Alcohol Consumption In Australia

These days there are a number of social issues in the community, such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is rampant in today’s society, Australian Drug Foundation states that, “Alcohol is the most widely used psychoactive, or mood-changing, recreational drug in Australia.”(Healey, 2002, p. 11). Underage drinking and binge drinking are some of the problems associated with alcohol abuse.

Underage drinking is becoming a serious social issue in modern Australia; with 90% of Australian teenagers over 14 that have tried alcohol at least once. Estimates also suggest that half of Australia’s teenagers drink alcohol on a weekly basis. Underage drinking can cause drink driving and unsafe sex if it is misused. Australia seems to be fond of this drug, and find it to be socially acceptable although it is causing the amount of teenage deaths to rise rapidly due to misuse. Heavy use of Alcohol can also cause health issues later on in the lives of teens that are drinking alcohol. It is hard for parents to be able to prevent their teenagers from consuming and experimenting with alcohol, but they can at least kindly encourage their

“According to the CDC, about 90% of all teen alcohol consumption occurs in the form of Binge Drinking, which experts say peaks at the age of nineteen.” (qtd by Listfield). Binge Drinking is the consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. The author, Emily Listfield, defines that the standard alcohol consumption over a two hour period is considered to be four beers for women and five beers for men. This has become a great distraction for college students nationwide and a major dilemma on college campuses. Nearly two hundred thousand students visit emergency rooms each year due to the abuse of alcohol, and more than one thousand seven hundred students die. In the article “ The Underage Drinking Epidemic”, Listfield identifies the problems that underage drinking can cause, the dangers that could happen, and four solutions on what parents can do to keep their kids from binge drinking.

Alcohol consumption amongst the youth is now the new future and the way teenagers tend to live their life. It is apart of the Australian norm and culture however, what drives the younger youth to drink?. Australians accept alcohol as a social drug yet it is responsible for the most related deaths amongst the teenage population. Social aspects such as ones peers, gender, risk taking behaviour and environmental factors all relate back to alcohol. The idea of culture is linked with religion, Indigenous practices coupled with parenting skills also leading to consumption. Finally, an economical approach can be explored when dealing with commercializing beverages, pricing and health expenditures. All these concepts interrelate then become an excuse for one

Alcohol is the most commonly used drug in Australia (The Australian Drug Foundation, 2014). The term binge drinking is defined as drinking heavily over a short period of time with the intention of becoming intoxicated (Druginfo.adf.org.au, 2009). Binge drinking is spreading across Australia and is now having a greater affect on adolescents. There are things that individuals, schools, families and governments can do in order to minimise binge drinking. The effects that alcohol has on the body depend on a range of thing such as how often you are drinking, the strength of the drink you drink and how much you drink (Dame, 2016). Alcohol has both short-term and long-term effects on the body. Some short-term effects include alcohol poisoning, blackouts,

In Australia 40% of australians from the age of 14 to 19 drink enough alcohol that they can cause a short term accident and or injury. That is a lot of people drinking under age.

Over time, it has become a regular thing for citizens of Australian to drink excessive amounts alcohol; Australians of many different ages drink alcohol for a wide range of reasons; whether alcohol is being consumed due to a special occasion, for stress relief, or as an (not so good) anti-depressant. Alcohol, believe it or not makes a huge impact on Australians as young as 14. Statistics show that at least 90% of teenagers 14 years old and up have tried alcohol at least once, and estimates also show that around about 50% of teens 14 and older consume alcohol on a weekly basis. The problem being caused by this deadly drug is that teens under the age of 18 are not complying with the law and are consuming crazy amounts of alcohol on a regular

Underage drinking is rapidly becoming a widespread matter within Australia. It is considered to be a serious problem not only nationally, but also globally wide. Underage drinking has climbed its way up the ladder to one of the most common forms of substance use. “The health risks that accumulate over a lifetime from alcohol increase progressively – this means that the more young people drink, the greater the risk” (Windle, Spear, Fuligni, Angold, Drown, Pine, Smith, Giedd, Dahl 2009). Some states within Australia do not have to deal with this problem nearly as much as others. These teenagers are classified as underage drinkers because the national legal drinking age in Australia is 18 years of age – meaning they are still considered to be minors (Australian Alcohol Guidelines, 2009). For the purposes of this essay, the focus will be set on adolescences and alcohol. It will be argued whether parental influence has an impact on teenagers present or future drinking habits.

My Virtual Medical Centre (myVMC, 2016) identifies that binge drinking has significantly increased since 2004, as now approximately 18% of Australian adults engage in binge drinking once a week, while back in 2004, approximately

For many Australians, alcohol consumption is a pleasurable part of everyday life (Parliament of Victoria 2004). However in recent years there have been several reports highlighting that the proportion of adolescents consuming alcohol and the amount of alcohol they are drinking is at record levels (AIHW 2008; White and Hayman 2006; Shanahan and Hewitt 1999). The long and short term sequelae associated with risky or high risk alcohol consumption include negative physical, emotional and social consequences (NHMRC 2001). Immediate harms include accidents, injuries, decreased scholastic and sporting performance, aggression, violence, assault, disrupted family relationships, high risk sexual activity,

Firstly, binge alcohol drinking is ongoing and pervasive issue among Australian adolescents ( Dengenhardt et al, 2013, P.1). Generally, adolescents tend to drink less frequently than adults drinkers but they have a tendency for excessive and binge drinks (Wechsler and Nelson, 2010, p.985).

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

Alcohol Abuse in Australian teenagers has become an ever-growing epidemic nationwide, in particular teens aged between 14 and 17 years of age. This health issue not only has detrimental effects on teenagers but also has devastating effects on people of all ages all throughout their lives. Developing positive drinking habits at a young age is paramount to avoid alcohol related deaths and illnesses. Resounding statistics show that each year alcohol accounts for 13 per cent of all deaths

Australia needs to wake up and realize that society is influencing us to develop the binge culture. Thus, making binge drinking into a social issue. There is a sharp increase of binge drinking in the younger generation with the statistics showing 86.2% of Australian teenagers aged 14-18 years have consumed alcohol. The underage youth are stating that their parents are allowing it, that it is easy to get the alcohol, drinking’s cheaper and that they are getting highly influenced seeing the older (legal aged) youth drinking. Consequently, the younger youth cannot comprehend why they cannot drink

Underage drinking is a serious public health problem in the United States. Alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among America’s youth, and drinking by young people poses enormous health and safety risks. Young kids around the ages of 13-15, use drinking as an act of socializing at parties. Drinking has caused a lot of damage in that area of events. Young teens also experience “Binge drinking” which mostly occurs at parties such as sororities or just parties in general. Binge drinking is the practice of consuming large quantities of alcohol in a single session. Binge drinking is considered to be one of the most dangerous pattern of drinking. The symptoms can easily lead to: Alcohol poisoning, blackouts, causes a great deal of damage