Health Promotion for Alcohol

Australia is known for its cultural consumption of alcohol, to levels such as binge drinking. The growing epidemic poses serious health risks to the affected populous as well as associations between violence, misdemeanours and binge drinking which are acts that are in violation of the law and punishable by the law (Rush 2003, p4). Which effectively justifies the public’s growing concern.

An anonymous 15 question survey was issued to the year 12 students of MacGregor State High School. The survey was based on the amount of teens being supervised whilst drinking, how they get access to drinks, and the prevalence of potential binge drinkers within this group of students surveyed. The primary data collected was then examined and compared with the secondary data results, Australian Trends.

Evidence and research proves that the laws related to the legal drinking age does not reflect today’s societal values and that the legislations ‘Liquor Act 2007 No 90 (NSW) Part 7 Division 1 Sections 117 & 116’ should be reformed to raise the drinking age in Australia from 18 years of age to 21. Through surveying different age groups and socio-economic backgrounds of society, information has been gathered to demonstrate that the current laws do not reflect society’s opinion on the legal drinking age in Australia. Research suggests that there are many social consequences related to alcohol in young people including alcohol fuelled violence and major health issues. Despite evidence from leading health experts,

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.

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

Research has stated that “young adults aged between18-24, attending University and/or young women are most at risk of being binge drinkers in Australia and 25% of the general population of Australia are at risk of obtaining a drinking problem.” (Davies, O’Hara, Raciti, Reinhard, Sharma, 2012)

Annually, about 4,300 people under age 21 die from injuries involving underage drinking. Where I stand on this argument is that adolescent drinking is on the rise and is fast becoming one of Australia’s biggest problems. This problem is easy to see and it’s hard not to notice with the amount of TV coverage and social media trends. The amount of surveys showing that drinking more and drinking younger is what teenagers are doing.

According to Olsson et al. (2017), problematic alcohol use is both dangerous and addictive as it affects the brain functions by producing a euphoric effect, such as a sense of happiness and excitement. VicHealth (2017) outline that alcohol is heavily promoted and socially accepted in Australian culture nowadays. As a result, people are misusing alcohol in the course of socialising and celebrating events by binge drinking. This binge drinking culture is becoming a social and economic issue in Australia (Jones, Gordon, & Andrews, 2016; Miller et al., 2016; Dietze,Wright, & Lim, 2016). The National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA, 2017) conclude that the recommended level of alcohol is 30 ml for pure alcohol and 425 ml

There has been ongoing public concern for adolescents and early adults’ drinking culture in worldwide. Australia has also great concerns about early initiating alcohol misuse and risky level of drinking pattern among young population. Consequently, the Minimum legal drinking age law is one of major alcohol control enforcement legislation to prevent alcohol related harms among adolescents ( Wechsler and Nelson, 2010, p.985).

Drugs and alcohol are widely used for a multitude of personal and recreational reasons, to an extent where their prevalence is normalizing and becoming more socially acceptable; especially in the youth demographic. Alcohol consumption in particular has cultivated within the Australian lifestyle to become standardized and intrinsic to the culture, often encouraged to youth as a ‘coming of age’ recreation. The social acceptancy and acceptancy of drug and alcohol issues within Australian teens has been a result of the acknowledgement of its wide and extremely common use to the point where prevention strategies will not succeed as well as support for current users will.

Excessive alcohol consumption is a major source of morbidity and premature death in the UK. The World Health Organisation lists alcohol as the third leading risk factor for premature death in developed countries, with only tobacco and blood pressure causing more premature death and disability (The Royal College of Nursing, 2014). Alcohol is widely known as being part of many people’s family and social life, and in reality consumers are unaware that it is however a poison and an addictive substance. Alcohol can cause physiological and psychological harm in users and has wider social consequences (Rehm J and Mathers C, 2009)

Carrotte, Dietze, Wright, and Lim (2016) defined youth as the early years of life between ages 13 and 19 that is characterised by rapid physical, psychological and emotional transition where a dependent child progress into an independent adult or adolescents. In addition, the youths are mostly inclined with taking risks and usually struggle to deal with their feelings and emotions, For instance, misusing alcohol provides a temporary feeling of numbness so that the youths feels very little and induces euphoria (Carrotte, Dietze, Wright, & Lim, 2016). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) has outlined that in the year 2014 to 2015 approximately 80.6% of young Australians aged 18 years had already consumed alcohol in their early life and the numbers are predicted to rise throughout the coming years.

Alcohol use and the associated alcohol use disorder are costly public health problems. This paper explores the public health importance of alcohol use in adolescence as both a distinct problem and risk for chronic alcohol use disorder across the life span. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) prevalence is rising for adolescents, characterized by increasing numbers of adolescents engaging in binge drinking that results in risky behavior, injuries, and death (Hanes, 2012; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2014). The estimated prevalence of alcohol use disorders in adolescents

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

Teen drinking is found to be a major issue in Australia especially for those in the lower socioeconomic status group. A number of determinants have been found to contribute to teen drinking such peer pressure and influence from adults