Health Promotion for Alcohol

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

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.

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,

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

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

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

The results collected from the survey were analysed to help identify the target groups’ behaviours, attitudes and beliefs on the Australian cultural norms of drinking and what they think a binge drinker is. There were 15 questions within the survey, each one was analysed and then categorised into three sections to help construct statements about

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.

Today’s society is seeing the risks and issues coming from the alcoholic behaviours of youths in Australia and binge drinking is the biggest problem. Binge drinking can and will lead to rises in health and legal costs because of treatment for preventable crimes, injuries and diseases caused by the negative effects of alcohol consumption. The cheap cost of alcopops in Australia encourages

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

Binge drinking is one of the leading causes of drug-related deaths among teenagers in Australia (youth central 2017).Due to its popularity in Australia alcohol is not seen as a drug but as a way of socializing among teens. Binge drinking is defined as ‘drinking heavy amounts of alcohol in short period of time with the intent of becoming intoxicated (youth central 2017)'. Partaking in binge drinking particularly from a young age may result in a number of long-term effects to the body. These may include brain damage, liver damage, stomach ulcers, sexual problems, weight problems and depression (youth central 2017). Regular consumption of large amounts alcohol can lead to teens partaking in risky behavior and having a server impact on their social life and relationships (youth central 2017). Such as drink driving, getting into fights and arguments, missing school or work, feeling depressed, passing out, loss of valuable or personal items and having unsafe sex(better health.vic.gov.au,2016). Binge drink has also been linked to a number of financial issues among teenagers who cannot afford to buy alcohol, therefore, resulting in searching for other alternatives to afford alcohol such as selling drugs.