Birckmayer Teen Suicide

Methods Analysis." Journal of Youth & Adolescence, vol. 46, no. 7, July 2017, pp. 1598-1610.

Alcohol is a harmful drug consumed by many including young people ranging from the ages 15 to 29. Meanwhile alcohol does have some benefits when drank in moderation as an adult, when it comes to young people there is only negative impacts both psychically and mentally resulting in dangerous and life altering outcomes. What many seem to forget is that not only does alcohol effect the individual but also has a negative impact on their family, loved ones and community.

When the WWI erupted in Europe in 1914, President Wilson decided not to take part into the war and declared America’s neutrality. As the nation of immigrants, it would have been difficult to pick sides, especially that a lot of immigrants originated either England or Germany and Austria. This would have created separation between Americans. U.S.’s decided to continue trading as before with both Britain and France and also with their opponent, Germany, which was in America’s best interest (U.S. History, 2016). But, due to the British blockade strategy to German supply from the US, the trade with Germany was impossible. As a result, the US continued to provide war supplies to Britain and France but decreased the trade with Germany, which aggravated Germany, which prompted a German submarine to sink the US ship Lusitania. The United States decided to enter the war after two and a half years of isolationism, as Allies with Britain and France.

Simply remarking that such a decision is dangerous fails to suffice as concrete evidence of the negative effects of underage alcohol consumption, and so statistical evidence must be given. Approximately five thousand underage drinkers die each year; the most prevalent cause is, not surprisingly, motor vehicle accidents. What many do not understand is what other factors constitute the other approximately three thousand; sixteen hundred to homicides, that is, murders and other deliberate killings, as well as 300 to suicide, usually caused by an exacerbation of underlying depression or other psychological difficulties. The remaining thousand are usually caused by such grisly circumstances as falling, burning, and drowning. While this may seem a relatively small number in the vast amounts of the twelve to twenty year old age group, estimates are that within the past month one-quarter of underage persons used alcohol, while two-thirds of those were binge drinkers. Not only does underage drinking increase the chance of dying in related incidents it encourages other destructive behaviors: engage in sexual activities, carry a plethora of illegal substances, and correlations have even been found that links underage drinking to poor performance in school. Other observations have been made that negatively link underage drinking with mental

“Eighty percent of twenty-one year olds admit to purchasing alcohol for younger friends (Bonnie 5). If twenty-one year olds give alcohol to their younger friend, what makes people think that eighteen year olds wouldn’t do it too. If the legal drinking age is lowered to eighteen, eighteen year olds in high school might have sibling that is in middle school so those middle schools will also have access to alcohol. Surveys show that the most common source for alcohol among eighteen to twenty year olds is their twenty-one to twenty-four-year-old peers (Clark). Teen drinking can cause suicides. There is more pressure on teen than adults and when alcohol is added to the mix is only increases those effect (Arguments). Alcohol an affect you being a good student and it can also increase the risk of depression, violence and suicide. “Drinking and drug use may begin very early for young Americans. A new study has shown that by the time a teen reaches late adolescents, most of them have drank alcohol and use illicit substances”(National Institute). The younger you start can increase the risk of alcoholism at a young age. This can eventually lead to death.

Alcohol is usually sought after within the adolescent community and has been an issue among young people. On July 17th 1984, congress passed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which enforces the legal drinking age and purchasing of alcohol in the United States to be twenty-one. Since then, the debated idea of whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen has been an ongoing topic for decades. Alcoholism affects many people in the United States but promoting it at such young age would not be such a great idea for the youths in today’s society.The drinking age should not be lowered due to the fact that it poses many dangers in the lives of teenaegers especially brain damages, underage drinking has declined since 1984, enforcing alcohol among teenagers may cause an increase in drunk driving and deaths and most importantly, teenagers who start drinking at an early age are more than three times more likely to develop alcohol dependency later on in life than those who started at the legal age of 21 or later.

Alcohol is a major problem in today’s world. This is because alcohol can cause many deaths and accidents. Those who are young, usually drink irresponsibly and are the ones who are often causing these problems. By increasing the drinking age to 21, it will prevent many problems in today’s society. Many alcohol-related problems come from those who drink irresponsibly. The age of those who drink carelessly range from ages 12-19. Increasing the drinking age will significantly decrease the death rates. “In

The following statistical data from the CDC provided the group with incite as to who is more likely to have a traumatic brain injury and by which mechanism. The rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) related emergency department visits, categorized by gender show that every year men have a higher amount of emergency department visits because of TBIs (concussions) compared to women. Referring to the Appendix G, men’s emergency department visits have increased more than 50% from the years 2001-2010, from 494.6 to 800.4. The rate of women visiting the emergency department because of a TBI accident increased from 349.3 to 633.7, which also increased by almost 50% ("TBI by Sex”, 2014).

Teen suicide is a major problem in our society today. The adolescent suicide rate has tripled since 1960, while being the largest cause of death between the ages of 15 and 24. This is the one single age group that has seen an increase in suicides over the past thirty years. There are about 10,000 reported suicides reported annually. It is estimated however, that the true number of teen suicides is actually three to four times that number when unreported deaths are factored in.

Suicide is a prevalent cause of death among America's youth today. Every day more than 1000 teenagers will think about suicide and eighteen will be successful in committing it. It is an ever-growing problem that can be described as unnecessary and uncalled for. Knowledge and understanding are key factors to preventing teenage suicide. The problem will usually originate from a period of depression, either as a medical concern, or simply because of a saddened

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

“In one study, 37 percent of eighth grade females who drank heavily reported attempting suicide, compared with 11 percent who did not drink” (NIH)

Hundreds of thousands of people die due to suicide every year. This number is estimated to double by 2020 should the current trend continue. The primary cause of these suicides is mental disorders and harmful use of alcohol - which in itself is a result of mental health related conditions. The World Health Organization reports indicate that 20% of the world 's children and adolescents suffer from one or more mental disorders and according to the Kim foundation, 57.7 million people in the US suffer from a mental health disorder.

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.

Alcohol abuse in high school teens is very common . Three-fourths of high school seniors have experimented with alcohol, according to a report by the Fairfax, Va.-based Society for Prevention Research.(M. C. B 1) . 95% of the time high schoolers start drinking because of peer pressure . Also, males are likely to start drinking before females do .Teens that drink often are three times more likely to commit self-harm such as cutting or suicide attempts than teens that don’t drink. Adolescent drinking represents a significant problem in the United States (Doumas 1) . The Effects of Alcohol Abuse in High School teenagers are death, low academics, and health issues .