“Certainly social pressures are part of adolescent vulnerability, but perhaps more important is that the teenage brain lends itself to highly motivated exploration of the world in order to learn how to be an adult. This is the time to take risks! Apparently the stage of the brain construction during adolescence makes the brain more vulnerable to addiction that at any other time in life.” (Philip, 2006, p165)

Adolescents are more vulnerable to drug, alcohol and tobacco addiction, and parents usually think that their kids are going through a special stage where they easily get tempted by this kind of things. As it mentioned in the article, there are various reasons why teenagers become addicted, for example stress, emotional problems, family history, etc. Some parents understand that their kids at this age have great curiosity about things that only adults can do, want to explore the new outside world by themselves and enjoy the excitement of breaking the rules; however, the real reason is often neglected by parents that it is actually the brain construction that makes young adolescents more vulnerable. There are a lot of brain changes during adolescence such as loss of neuronal connections and forming of new connections, which lead to teenagers’ impulsive and risk-taking behaviors. Therefore, it would not be helpful if parents and teachers always blame teenagers on the addiction issues because in fact it’s not all their fault, the brain changes are something that they cannot control.

Now that brain changes have tremendous impacts on adolescents’ behavior especially in terms of addictions to drug, alcohol and tobacco, parents and educators should come up with new and useful approaches to help adolescents overcome this problem instead of blaming and punishing them. As it mentioned in the article, the most effective way to help students deal with these issues is to teach them how to resist the temptation, so therefore, teachers can focus on creating programs that help dealing with the influences. Additionally, it is also important for teachers to cooperate with parents to create a positive and supportive environment for adolescents.