Alcohol Abuse In The United States: A Case Study

Underage drinking is very common in the United States. Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug in the United States, even more so than illicit drugs (Marijuana, Cocaine, etc…) and tobacco. “In 2012 the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 24% of youth aged 12 to 20 years drink alcohol and 15% reported binge drinking. In 2013, the Monitoring the Future Survey reported that 28% of 8th graders and 68%

Alcohol use has spanned history. In fact, there is speculation that alcohol use actually preceded the formation of societies (Doweiko, 2015, p. 30). Thus, alcohol has long been a part of mankind’s life. The function of alcohol has unarguably changed throughout the course of history, as it was first used for nutritional purposes and then later on for religious purposes (Doweiko, 2015, p. 32). Today, alcohol serves a social purpose. In the United States, the prevalence of use is quite high, with just over 50% of the population partaking monthly (Doweiko, 2015, p. 34). This statistic is somewhat alarming considering alcohol use comes with a number of potential adverse consequences. Case in point, even

Roughly 11 million young Americans consume alcohol, and an upsetting number of them drink way too much, for the purpose of my research, described as guzzling five or more drinks in a row, one or more times in a two-week period.

Recent studies show that approximately fifty-three percent of adults in the United States have one or more close relatives that have drinking problems. Alcohol Abuse has cost the United States more than 220 billion dollars in 2005 alone. Problem drinkers are most often found in young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 years old, and the fewest in adults who are 65 years of age or older. Alcohol Abuse is one of the major risk factors for violence, and research shows that fifty percent of all homicides and forty percent of all assaults in the United States are alcohol related. In the United States, more than forty percent of the people who start drinking when they are fourteen years old or younger are more likely to become alcoholics than those who don’t. One in ten Americans, currently have alcohol problems.

For two generations, Americans have needed to be 21 – or own an ID that states as such – to legally purchase and consume alcohol (Griggs, 1). According to The World Health Organization “the U.S. [is] one of only a handful of developed countries –Iceland, Japan, South Korea and Thailand are others – with a minimum drinking age over 18” (Griggs, 1). When Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984, its goal was to reduce less-mature adults from consuming alcohol and performing reckless acts (Cary, 1). However, despite the current drinking age, 17.5 percent of consumer spending for alcohol in 2013 was under the age of 21. It is estimated that “90 percent of underage drinking is consumed via binge drinking…with alcohol abuse becoming more prevalent among the country’s youth” (Aguirre, 1).

Drinking can lead to a lot of things such as teen pregnancies, hospitalizations and worse cases it can lead to death. “100,000 persons die each year from alcohol-related causes: drinking and driving crashes, other accidents, falls, fires, alcohol-related homicides and suicides.” (NCAAD) The amount of horrifying deaths that happen in our everyday life we can contribute a large portion of the to being related in some form to alcohol. Teen alcohol consumption has gotten worse and worse over the years. “Teen alcohol use kills 4,700 people each year — that’s more than all illegal drugs combined.” (MADD) While there are many other

If a foreigner were to come into America one of the most startling facts they would would be our liberal attitude towards alcohol. Alcohol is literally everywhere in America and we are not shameful of our love of it. Our televisions are filled with ads for alcohol beverages portraying happiness, our sport teams and stadiums are sponsored by alcohol companies and not only that but alcohol in America is cheaper and better than ever with thousands of options and varieties. A prime example of our affinity to alcohol would be the Super bowl which had over a 111 million viewers in 2016 and averages over a 100 million viewers every year (Pallotta and Stelter). If one were to tune into the super bowl and view the ads, it is not hard to notice that

Alcoholism, the 3rd health related drug problem in the United States. A research on alcohol concluded that “Seven in ten adults or one hundred million Americans, ages eighteen and up are estimated to be drinkers” (Raby). In addition, approximately “10 million of the one hundred million Americans” have developed alcoholism (Raby). Around the late 18th century temperance movements to abolish alcohol were created, eventually abolishing alcohol through the 18th amendment, also known as the Volstead Act which stated “… beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” (Raby). Unfortunately, it did not last very long, instead of solving problems, it created more. Crime organization, increase growth in bootlegging and consumptions erupted due to the inability

Alcoholism is a growing problem in the United states. About eighteen million people in the U.S. have this disorder. Alcoholism is a serious problem that can be helped if a person receives treatment. Throughout the United States there are many resources like the Farley center whose goal is to help Alcoholics recover and get back into society. Places like the Farley center offer different treatment plans depending on the severity of a given person’s situation, for instance they may only have you stay a few days or up to 3 months, they have a 12-Step program, and the patient gets a personalized treatment created by the qualified professionals at the center.

Alcoholism is still a huge social issue within the US, but steps are being taken to fight this behavior. The U.S. has cut DUI deaths by 50% in the last 2 decades and made alcohol rehabs and alcohol treatment programs more widely available; even to inmates in prisons. (The History of Alcoholism in America. 2011)

Because it is one of the few drugs that is not prohibited, alcohol is widely available in western societies. Therefore, alcohol tends to be easily accessible to everyone no matter the age, gender or class. The easy access to alcohol and the lack of self-esteem and education leave the youngers vulnerable to damages caused by abusive drinking of alcoholic beverages.

Factors that affect the absorption of alcohol such as “the alcohol concentration in your drink, the amount of alcohol a person consume, the amount of food in a person’s stomach, your metabolism, weight, body mass index and an individuals mood” (Donatelle, 2016, p. 233). For example if Paulo and a friend of his were the exact same weight and had the same meal, but the friend has a poorer metabolism, then he would have a longer absorption rate than Paulo despite their similarities. The amount of alcohol that is considered binge drinking for women would be would be about “four or more drinks in about two hours” and for men it would be about “five or more drinks” (240). Since Paulo regularly drinks between 5-8 drinks in an evening he would be considered

To continue, it is suggested that alcoholism and binge drinking may have a range of negative impacts on cognitive deficits, the deficits may be explained by the ‘frontal lobe hypothesis,’ which suggests a vulnerability of the prefrontal cortex to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. (Uekermann J & Daum I (2008) Social cognition in alcoholism: a link to PFC dysfunction. Addiction 103: 726-735) The researchers found that alcoholism was clearly associated with cognition impairments such as the individual experiencing great difficulty in facial recognition, which includes emotional face and prosody perception problems – in addition to this the alcoholics had difficulties processing standard humour. Alcoholics tend to ‘overestimate the intensity of

In the proposed study, analyzes of several potential distal and proximal determinants of 8th and 10th graders’ alcohol abuse would be conducted using a nationally representative sample from the Monitoring the Future study to understand its pathways. It is expected that Bandura’s concept of “reciprocal determinism” related to Social Learning Theory (1978) and Life Course Theory (Elder, 1998) as developmental theory will help explain that victimization (a risk factor) as a direct or indirect predictor of adolescents’ alcohol abuse, as well as interpersonal relationship with family and peers as a protective factor, which can moderate the predictive effect of victimization on self-perception, perception towards alcohol, and alcohol abuse. In the proposed path analysis, all statements related to each path are based on some evidence in the literature. As a result, it is expected to the proposed path analysis will help evaluate victimization as the direct and indirect predictor of interpersonal relationship, self-perception, and perception towards alcohol, and alcohol abuse among adolescents in the United States. On the other hand, it is expected that interpersonal relationship of adolescents will moderate the effect of victimization. Additionally, it is also expected that self-perception as moderated by interpersonal relationships, or influenced by victimization, will mediate the outcome measure, alcohol abuse. Similarly, perception towards alcohol influenced by victimization or

The excessive intake of alcohol also referred to as alcoholism can cause diseases as well as negative connotation and lack of responsible social life particularly among the youth who should be the most productive age group in the American population.