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Abstract
A disproportionate number of adolescents are abusing prescription medications at alarming rates. Although the Monitoring the Future Study of 2013 is showing a slow decline in prescription drug use among adolescents who abuse these substances, the future is bleak for youth who are still engaging in this self-destructive behavior. Many parents are completely naïve and oblivious about their adolescents’ prescription drug use. Medications, stored in medicine cabinets in the home, are some adolescents’ prime source of securing substances for drug use. At-risk youth, without a resilient constitution (i.e., the ability to resist drug use), fall prey to the prolific environmental influences that saturate communities across the United States. Healthy beliefs and clear standards, promoted by parents and teachers, in conjunction with familial and community bonding, lowered the prevalence of prescription drug abuse among youth. Adolescents who were bonded to prosocial peers and who rejected substance abusing peer pressure were less likely to abuse prescription medications.