Adolescent and young-adult substance abusers think and act more like children with respect to morality and ethics. Adolescent substance abusers cognitively function on a concrete level. Substance abuse then leads to impaired intellectual, academic, and social skill development. Declining school performance indicates progression from social to habitual substance abuse. A significant proportion of substance abusers have a history of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or generic learning disability.
Substance abuse appears to impair the individual's ability to learn.
Substance abuse undermines the capacity to concentrate as well as to retain information. Also, we found greater resistance to peer pressure by students who received social skills training. Finally, we found a significant difference in self-esteem with students who received social skills training. Social Skills Training is one of the most promising programs. Social skills training teaches children and adolescent how to make decisions, solve problems, and handle broader social relations so that they feel more confident.