Essay on How Alcohol Effects Teenagers

Based on information taken from NIH (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) by the age of fifteen around half of teens have had at least one drink and seventy percent by that age of 18 have had a drink. It seems harmless for youth to experiment with alcohol but there are serious risks that come with underage drinking such as injury, sexual assault, and even death. In 2008 there were more than one hundred ninety thousand underage people to visit the emergency room for alcohol related injuries. Drinking can impair decisions on sexual activity and can lead to sexually assaulting someone, or if in a crowd of drinkers the chance of being sexually assaulted is increased and even more so when it comes to youth. Alcohol in youth can even lead to death, around five thousand death are reported annually for alcohol related underage deaths. To help prevent underage drinking you can learn to look for signs in your youth. Look for problems in school, lack of concentration, bad memory, less regard for appearance, signs of alcohol use like smell and containers. If you are underage and thinking about drinking, don’t, wait tell you’re the appropriate age and then only drink in moderation and responsibly, also avoid youth that would pressure you into drinking, what may be cool isn’t the way to success.

Many teenagers who had their first drink by the age of 15 is more likely to becoming addicted to alcohol than someone who starts drinking at the legal age of 21(cdc). Different teens drink for different reason, many teenagers are admitted into rehab for underage drinking. The ones that make it out that is, many teenagers who drink young and don’t get help die. Recently a 16 year old boy died from taking 24 shots at a party and no one wanted to take him to the hospital because of being scared of getting in trouble.

Violence may proceed alcohol misuse in offenders as well as victims. For example, violent people may be more likely than nonviolent people to encounter social situations and encourage heavy drinking, violence may contribute to alcohol consumption, which in turn may unpredictable violence.

“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.

Alcoholism and alcohol abuse is a huge problem and portrays many risks, one of the risks being the major health issues that come along with excessive drinking. Adolescence is the transition between childhood and adulthood. During this time, significant changes occur in the body, including rapid hormonal alterations and the formation of new networks in the brain. Teens or young

However, the most common binge drinking ages range from 18 years old through 35 years old. About 90% of alcohol consumed by youth under age 21 in the United States is in the practice of binge drinking

and delinquent behaviour (Jones and Donovan 2001). Among young people aged 16 to 24 years, alcohol related harm is one of the leading causes of disease and

Drinking at a young age can lead to brain damage and terrible decisions. Alcohol affects these three main parts of human development, the brain, liver, and hormonal system. In addition, drinking alcohol actually shortens a person’s lifespan. By slowly damaging your body with alcohol you are taking more and more time out of your life meaning you might not get to see the future you always wished for. As stated by thefix.com “Most are fully aware that heavy drinking is hard on the body, but a new study revealed alcoholism actually reduces one’s lifespan by an average of 7.6 years.” (Alcoholism Shortens Lifespan By Nearly a Decade, Study Finds. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from https://www.thefix.com/content/alcoholism-shortens-lifespan-nearly-decade-study-finds) and pbskids.org also states “Adults have lived longer, and so they are supposed to be better at making decisions and judgments, like whether one has had too much to drink.” (It's My Life. Body. Alcohol. Your Questions | PBS Kids GO! (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/body/alcohol/article8.html). Drinking also, damages the gums and may produce gum disease. Many teens care about their appearance while drinking they are ruining their teeth and could end up with gum disease. All in all, drinking at a young age can affect your body and destroy your

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

First off, alcohol addiction and abuse among teenagers today is a bigger problem than ever before. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the teens are so exposed to the culture of this day and age, leading them to where they have easy access to alcohol. For example, their parents may already be alcoholics, and it's merely a few bad decisions later which could cause the child to have a few drinks and cloud their judgement. This is a big problem because their young bodies have never encountered anything like alcohol before, so in turn, the body does not know how to process it, and therefore leads to their downfall. A publication released by the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAA) suggests that by age 18, an astounding 60% of US teens would have had at least one drink. Moreover, according to the NIAA, youth between the ages of 12 and 20 will often binge drink as well.

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 .

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.

As stated by NIAAA, UNDERAGE DRINKING: A MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGE, The younger you are when you start drinking, the greater your

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.