Teenage Drinking and Its Effects on the Development of Alcoholism Later

Is the media’s portrayal of adolescent drinking accurate? Yes, it is. To many individuals, Alcohol is only a drink, but it is a lot more than that, it's an addictive drug. 60% of young adults have tried alcohol earlier than the age of 14, and the numbers of under aged drinkers is rising. Adolescents begin drinking for a lot of reasons - given that they are bored, due to peer pressure, and quite simply because there is nothing else to do. The national Drug research Institute observed females aged 14 to 17 have been worse abusers of alcohol than 18 to 24-year old guys. In other records, it suggests that eighty percent of under 18-year-olds drink, 50 percentage binge drink. Also around 10 percent of 12 year olds drink.

An obvious outcome of underage drinking is drunk driving, which we know kills thousands every year. But an effect of lowering the drinking age that escapes the minds of many is the easy access that younger teens and tweens will have to alcohol when their senior friends are allowed to partake of alcohol freely. When 18 year olds are still in high school, they can have legal alcohol at their social events and house parties. There’s no doubt that underclassmen will be allowed in to these events to enjoy the privilege of the older peers. The danger in young drinking makes itself clear in a CDC Fact Sheet: “About 2 in 3 high school students who drink do so to the point of intoxication, that is, they binge drink (defined as having five or more drinks in a row), typically on multiple occasions.”

How many videos have you seen online of a college student, completely wasted, doing something incredibly stupid? If this person had started drinking at a younger age, in an appropriate setting, and in the presence of responsible adults, this would happen much less frequently. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to learn to drink in a safe place when under 21 because you have to drink in a secluded area to avoid being caught. It isn’t possible to drink in the presence of responsible adults because these are the same people trained to not allow you to drink. Instead, young adults either binge drink with their friends at an unsafe location away from supervision, or they wait until they get to college where there aren’t any parents around and drink too much too fast due to a lack of experience.

The importance of having the proper in depth education about alcohol is often overlooked. As a result, underage drinkers do not learn about having limits when it comes to drinking. Underage drinkers often drink until intoxication because they think that being wasted is the goal. Through research linking to the pattern of underage drinkers , they "drink on fewer occasions,but when they drink they are more likely to binge drink" (Henry Nelson). Many adolescents from ages 16-20 will find themselves in situations where they experience life and learn from their mistakes. In time, they become more tolerant and by the time they are actually 21, underage drinkers are able to withstand more alcohol and know how much they can drink before being totally intoxicated and even blackout. But not having the proper education on how to drink responsibly is only the first half of the problem. Many people 16 and up have permits and licenses so after these long sessions of drinking they make horrible decisions such as driving. Teaching adolescents will result in less incidents of drinking and driving. Having a more in depth learning curriculum about alcohol instead

Education is another great way to prevent the number of teenage alcoholics from rising any further. We can control this situation with just a couple lessons and speeches to inform kids about the consumption of alcohol by explaining how it affects their mind psychologically. Sure, drinking may cause stress relief and relaxation to the teenagers burdened with the amount of schoolwork and deciding their future. However, when

Society normally views teenagers as rebellious kids with an impulse to live new experiences. These experiences range from going to their first party to having their first alcoholic drink, and are sometimes as drastic as trying their first drug. Drinking alcoholic beverages is something that involves a lot of responsibility and can bring a plethora of negative consequences. This is the main reason why the United States has established a legal drinking age that I consider to be relatively high. With the legal drinking age being so high, while intending to avoid harmful situations, brings many repercussions that are equally as harmful.

If we want to stop the alarming rise in the number of high school and college kids abusing alcohol, we have to figure out first why they 're doing it. (Ruth Ann.). There are many reasons of teens drinking, such as: enjoyment, stress, social groups, etc. In countries where socialization to drinking is the norm, teens learn how to drink with moderation and avoid to get drunk. Imagine a young boy who started drinking on his early

Students in states with a minimum legal drinking age of 18 had a 13 times greater chance of dropping out of high school compared to states with a minimum legal drinking age of 21 (CDC). More than ninety percent of the alcohol consumed by those under the age of 21 are consumed by binge drinkers (CDC). There were 189,000 emergency department visits by teens under the age of 21 for injuries and other conditions linked with alcohol consumption (CDC). The list of facts and statistics goes on and on about underage drinking, although in neighboring countries with a lower legal drinking age theses statistics are way higher. Although some believe that the United States drinking age should be lowered to 18 when one is legally considered an adult, in

A survey was conducted amongst many high school students and the surveyors found out that approximately 64% of high school students have been drunk at least once in their lifetime; 33% say they have been drunk in the past month. The question is where they get all the money to buy these drinks. Some teens might have some extra money and some might borrow some from their peers, but they all usually end up obtaining it from their parents. Assuming that many teenagers would not want their parents to know about their addiction, they would tell lies, and lies are not always the best solution to addictions. After asking their parents for extreme magnitudes of money, the family is in debt. Having no other choice, they go to their education fund and spend off it. Once you do not have an education fund, you can’t get an education unless you get scholarship, which a completely careless drunkard probably would not get. Decreasing the legal drinking age would not be a nice favor for the families that work extremely hard to obtain the money they need to supply their family with the essential things needed to live. Thirdly, not maintaining the legal drinking age at 19 would also increase the crime rate of our already crime-ridden

Unfortunately the usual teen does not ever believe anything bad will ever happen to them and therefore they do not realize what could happen to them while being under the influence of alcohol. Frequently, we hear about bad things happening in the news and the words, "alcohol related" are attached to the news story. This is particularly common in car accidents with teen drivers. Not only are they young and less experienced drivers on the road but also participating in drinking and it is often a fatal mistake. Drunk driving continues to murder more innocent people on the roads than ever before. Many feel that the laws punishing those charged with a Driving under the influence charge are too lenient and if stronger laws were present it would assist people from doing this destructive behavior. Teenagers today are more afraid about their parents finding out they were at a party where they had alcohol than getting in the car intoxicated. This needs to change also where stronger communication of parents and their teenage drivers takes place.

The focus of alcohol needs to be on educating the youth about responsible drinking instead of on restriction. American teenagers, unlike European teens do not have the opportunity to be taught how to drink gradually, carefully, and in moderation. “Though the per capita consumption of alcohol in countries like France, Spain, and Portugal is greater than in the U.S., the rate of alcoholism and alcohol abuse is lower” (“Cross Fire”). Due to legal restriction in this country, young people in America postpone drinking until they can no longer benefit from their parents’ supervision and guidance (Don). “Irrefutable evidence supports the fact that the early introduction of drinking is the safest way to reduce juvenile alcohol abuse” (Ford). Young adults need an opportunity to learn sensible and moderate drinking in controlled and safe circumstances. Parents should be allowed to serve their children alcohol and young adults should be permitted to drink in controlled environments such as restaurants. Alcohol needs to be portrayed as a natural, normal

By the age of eighteen, more than 70% of teens have had at least one drink. Twenty percent of teens admitted that they had their first drink between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. (Anthony 1) Department of Health and Human Services says that young adults, ages eighteen to twenty, have the highest rate of alcohol dependence in the U.S., and they are not even legally old enough to have a drink. Underage drinking happens to anyone for a number of different reasons, some people do it to fit in, some do it to try something new, some do it to feel older, and some are just unprepared and do not know how to refuse it. Underage drinking causes huge health risks and could even lead to death. The U.S Health department has reported that around 5,000 people under the age of twenty-one die each year as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1,900 deaths from car crashes, 1,600 homicides, 300 suicides, and hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings. (Wing 5) Stopping teens from drinking might leave a great impact on the kids that look up to them, and could lead them to not drink. M.A.D.D., which also stands for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, reported 25,000 lives have been saved since the legal drinking age has been changed to twenty-one. (Alcantara

Teenagers rarely think before they do many things. Many times teenagers go to big blowouts or little get together with their friends. Their first thought is not about death, their grades, or alcoholism; their main purpose is to get drunk fast and sober up before going home by their set curfews. Each year most teen deaths have been caused from underage drinking in the United States, which is a big topic that the government is trying to prevent from happening. The government has set the drinking age to 21 but how are teens getting there alcohol? Teens are using fake Id’s to get their alcohol or even asking adults to purchase it for them, because of this, underage drinking has become a

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.

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.