Alcohol And Its Effects On Psychological And Physical Levels

The article, “Alcohol can rewire the teenage brain,” starts by stating that more than 4,750 American kids aged 15 and younger, said they took their first drink of alcohol already. Kids who start drinking before the age of 15 are more likely to become alcoholics because they get addicted to the drug. The article also states that they are more likely to start binge drinking. A study conducted by Lorena Siqueira a pediatrician at the Florida International University and Nicklaus Children’s hospital in Miami, reported that, “When kids drink, they tend to do heavy drinking,” and that, “Their bodies are not ready to handle that kind of alcohol.” Teens think that alcohol will help them feel happier and better, but that is not true. Teens also drink

According to Andrew Herman, “Each year, 14,000 die from drinking too much. 600,000 are victims of alcohol related physical assault and 17,000 are a result of drunken driving deaths, many being innocent bystanders” (470). These massive numbers bring about an important realization: alcohol is a huge issue in America today. Although the problem is evident in Americans of all ages, the biggest issue is present in young adults and teens. In fact, teens begin to feel the effects of alcohol twice as fast as adults and are more likely to participate in “binge-drinking” (Sullivan 473). The problem is evident, but the solution may be simple. Although opponents argue lowering the drinking age could make alcohol available to some teens not

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.

It is no secret that underage drinking is rampant in the United States. Though it’s illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to buy or possess alcohol, people under the age of 21 accounts for 17.5% of consumer spending for alcohol nationwide and 90% of that is consumed through binge drinking (Tracy). According to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 9.3 million Americans between ages 12-20 report current alcohol consumption (Distillers Fighting). With alcohol being one the most commonly abused drugs and soon to pass tobacco on the cause of death list, the pose the questions that if lowering the drinking age could actually increase responsible alcohol intake.

A youth’s social abilities can be destroyed by underage drinking. Socialization skills are key when a minor is growing up. A minor struggles to find their own independence and find themselves, therefore creating a distance from family relationships and creating new bonds with peers. The youth tend to try to be similar to each other to fit in with the rest, and as a result, children may be pressured into drinking alcohol. When these minors start to drink heavily and frequently, they may develop self esteem issues, depression, disorders, antisocial behavior, and anxiety. This makes underage drinkers more withdrawn from their peers and families than their peers who choose not to drink. Peers who don’t drink do not tend to associate and be friends with the group of people that do drink. This can lead to isolation and also disdain from those who do

The study of adolescent alcohol dependency is a growing field and offers both captivating and alarming discoveries because more and more younger children are depending on alcohol to function on a daily basis. You would be surprised to know how many young individuals are now dependent on alcohol because of the false advertisement that happens through television commercials and through social influences that surround these

In 2008, a National Institutes of Health Survey counted a total of 1.3 million children from the ages of twelve to seventeen that have experienced alcohol abuse just within the last year, and a total of 2.3 million young adults from the ages of twelve to twenty who have drunk five or more times within a single occasion. “At age twelve, 11 percent of boys and 9 percent of girls have commenced drinking, and 1 percent of them are classified as binge and heavy users. By age fourteen, the numbers are 31 and 33 percent use, respectively, and 6 percent of them are binge and heavy users. At age eighteen years, 73 percent have commenced drinking, 42 percent have used alcohol in the past month, and 39 percent are heavy users,” (Sherwood, 2012, p.1). However, the most common group in which abuses the use of alcohol is the college age. In 2007 alone, over 1800 college students were killed due to alcohol-related accidents, along

The underage consumption of alcohol is a major obstacle in America. Current statistics show 35 percent of all wine coolers and 1.1 billion cans of beer are consumed each year by underage, illegal drinkers (Novello 455). Possibly the hardest fact to stomach is that children "believe drinking is the thing to do" (Benenson 38). Parents, educators, legislators, and lawmakers previously thought that peer pressure was to blame, however, that is no longer the issue. Underage drinking in America is primarily the cause of children trying to fit in (also known as social drinking), advertising that is aimed at underage drinkers, and inherited traits/genetics. We must understand that alcohol abuse is no longer 'just

In today’s American society, the consumption of alcohol is commonly practiced. It is quite uncommon for one to attend a social event where the presence of alcohol is obsolete. However, society has deemed it fit to tell our youth that they are not allowed to participate in the traditional social pastime of drinking until they reach the age of 21. Hence, when they encounter methods around this predicament-and most of them do-young adults often participate in the reckless consumption of alcohol in large quantities.

Drinking alcohol when you're a teen develops brain problems, your brain is developing until your in your twenties. Alcohol affects the brain development which causes many problems (Underage Drinking). Teenagers happen to be more vulnerable to becoming addicted to alcohol because of the pleasure center in the brain. Drinking relaxes you and releases endorphins throughout the body causing teens to easily get addicted. Drinking alcohol causes you to make poor decisions which results in risky behavior. For example, Alcohol increases the risks for physical and sexual assault. Drinking puts you more at a risk to be a victim of assault or even commit it. Alcohol doesn't just make the risks for assault increase, it also ruins your life. Alcohol ruins relationships between people who care about you. “I have destroyed two relationships because I hurt them so much through my drinking, but I put drinking first. My family are so hurt that their daughter's killing herself for apparently no reason” (The Truth about Alcohol). Jamie use to be a teenage alcoholic, she said that alcohol wasn't just ruining her life, it was ruining her family’s life too. Making poor decisions doesn't just affect the person who is drinking but it eventually affects their family and the people around them. Jamie knew that her family was hurt by the choices she was making, she still continued to drink, she was addicted and

Nearly 25 percent of teens drink alcohol because they think it is fun; however the problems it may bring are not so fun (Hyde 22). There over six times more teen deaths per year from alcohol than any other drug (O’Malley 30). Alcohol affects the body of teens as well as all of the developmental processes. A major issue of teens drinking is that it increases the chance of becoming an alcoholic in the future; which leads to lowered self-control, impaired judgment, and lowered inhibition (Heath 12). Alcohol can completely change the life of a teen from the time they start drinking till death. Alcohol affects so many aspects of a person’s life and once it does, it is so hard to get life back to normal. Alcohol effects teens by harming them

Teenagers are America’s greatest natural resource, and they need to be protected from some of the evils that lurk in the world. A subject that needs special attention is the abuse of alcohol by teens. Statistics show that there is a problem currently between teens and alcohol. There are many causes of teenage drinking and effects that prove that drinking is an important issue that needs to be dealt with to preserve American teenagers. Teenage drinking will become worse of a problem if it continues unchecked on its current path to destruction. Alcohol abuse among teenagers in the United States is a plague that is destroying the structure of American society.

Kids are often abusing alcohol, but do not really understand the effects it may have on their life. When overwhelming their bodies with alcohol, they should ask themselves “What causes me to drink so much? What are the outcomes of me abusing alcohol? What can alcohol abuse lead to?”

Teenage binge drinking (consumption of five or more alcohol drinks in a row) has grown to be a serious problem in the United States. A report in 2009 from the Surgeon General’s office show alcohol consumption by teens start as early as 11 years of age for boys and 13 years of age for girls (Grant & Dawson, 1997). In the youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Report (2007), data results showed that over three million teenagers in grades 6 through 12 are alcoholics, and several million teens have serious health issues due to drinking. Further research conducted by the Harvard School of Public health (2006) show a direct correlation of automobile accidents, alcohol poisoning, poor academic performance. violence and

Teenagers face many difficult decisions in their lives and have many people in their lives that influence them. One of the major groups that influence teens is their peer group. “Since teenagers are not yet comfortable with themselves, they have a strong need to be accepted by their peers. And to be accepted, they feel they have to be just like their peers” (Ruth Maxwell, p. 24). From Maxwell we learn that teenagers will use alcohol to be accepted by a group. As age progresses the number of alcohol users progress 73 percent of kids that are from the ages of 16-18 are drinkers. In addition, around 90 percent of high school seniors have experienced alcohol at least once in their life.