Underage Drinking Effects

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Many young people are facing the consequences of excessive drinking, at a too early age. Because of this issue, underage drinking is a leading public health problem. Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking including about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings (1–5).

There are many consequences of binge drinking. It causes a lot of health problems in an adolescent’s life, possibly short or long term. Feeling nauseated, having a hangover and memory loss are just a few of many things that are short term. In addition to short term effects, the long term effects are more severe and even deadly. One of the worst long term effects of binge drinking is the loss of brain stem cells. Dr Fulton Crews, mentioned that “The adolescent 's brain is much more sensitive to alcohol toxicity than adults’, including being vulnerable to cell death.”

Alcohol can cause alterations in the structure, and the consequences may be evident beyond adolescence. Even though alcohol appears to be a stimulant, really it is a central nervous system depressant, depressing the brains inhibition control center (“too smart to start”). Neuron connectivity is vital to every human. Connectivity can be slowed down by alcohol consumption, which leads the person to think, speak, and move slower (“too smart to start”). Long term effects include memory loss and continuity of poor judgement. The cerebral cortex works with the senses; when the senses are debilitated, information is forgotten and senses do not function properly. The hippocampus regulates a person’s memories. When consuming too much alcohol, or even just one or two drinks, the hippocampus will damage, and a person will struggle remembering minor and large details. Teenagers often gloat over not being able to remember the night before. Even though their night may have been an “awesome blackout” their hippocampus has already been permanently damaged. The person now, can not hold on to knowledge and learn the same as before. The cerebellum controls coordination, thoughts and awareness (“too smart to start”). On most occasions, people have problems with these skills when consuming alcohol. In grade school, D.A.R.E. representatives brought “drunk goggles” to school. Studies show that alcoholism in the cerebellum

     A lower dosage of alcohol will damage a young brain compared to a fully mature brain, and young brains are damaged more quickly. Alcohol exposure during adolescence is linked with a reduced ability to learn compared with those not exposed until adulthood.Alcohol is implicated in more than 40 percent of all college academic problems and 28 percent of all college dropouts. At both 2- and 4-year colleges, the heaviest drinkers make the lowest grades.High school students who use alcohol or other

“Underage drinking is a risk that attracts many developing adolescents and teens. When young people try alcohol, they often don't realize the damaging effects drinking can have on their own lives, their

Because of the growing issue of parents supplying alcohol to minors, 35 of 50 states currently have Social Host laws in effect. This means if an adult is supplying minors with alcohol in their home, they can be arrested and charged. These laws are an attempt to decrease the number of adults hosting underage parties and supplying alcohol to minors (Wagoner et al. 2012). In addition to social host laws, laws concerning restricted licenses for teens and limiting teen driving at night seem to have had an impact on underage drinking. Additionally, license suspension laws for alcohol violations are making kids think twice before they consume alcohol and drive (Hingson, 2014). Yet underage drinking remains a nationwide concern and must continue to be addressed.

Underage drinking has been a huge problem in the United States of America. Underage drinking need to be regulated more closely so it can be stopped. Unfortunately, minors tend to see drinking as an adult thing which makes it fall into the category of being “cool”. More teenagers are giving into peer pressure and are getting involved in the consumption of alcohol. A study done in 2003 by the U.S Department of Health and Human Resources shows that most teenagers start drinking at the age of fourteen years old. This is a massive problem because teenagers have not completely developed yet. The consumption of alcohol can cause major damage to their brain. This is a topic that can bring a lot of families across the world to tears. To think

Adolescence drinking has become a massive concern, as children at the age of 11-13 are starting to try drinking in one form or another. Every few years the average age of drinking gets lower and lower as more children are now exposed to more media influences and peer pressure. These statistics are mostly ignored or over looked upon as most people think there fake, not seeing the big picture that adolescent drinking has become. If the portrayal of adolescent drinking is continuously ignored and not taken into thought, the age of drinking will continue to drop and adolescent drinking will continuously rise soon becoming a dangerous

One negative effect on Underage drinking is that it has an adverse effect on the development of memory. A discovery was found that youngsters dependent on alcohol was surely to have poor short-term memory. It has a negative effect on the person’s thinking, planning skills, memory and more. The damaging effects from alcohol focus on the frontal

Alcohol consumption by underage drinkers has and will continue to be a problem within our society. Adolescents view alcohol as a way of risk taking deviant behavior in order to rebel against parents and even society’s restrictions of what they consider to be adulthood. The following will describe the problem alcohol presents in adolescent’s lives. “Alcohol is a dependence-producing drug through its reinforcing properties and neuro-adaptation in the brain. It is an immunosuppressant, increasing the risk of communicable diseases” (Saunders and Rey 2011). “Alcohol use among American adolescents represents a significant public health problem. Teen drinking is associated with a range of health and social problems, including poor school performance, crime, and injury and death due to automobile and other accidents” (Treiman and Beck 1996). “For young people, alcohol is a potent symbol both of socialization into adult

Risks of alcohol use are extremely dangerous for people of all ages, especially teenagers. This is because our brains and bodies haven't been fully developed yet, so engaging in underage drinking reaps social and emotional effects that we shouldn't be experiencing until we are older. Drinking more than one drink of alcohol can have negative effects on your brain which can lead to loss of coordination, poor judgment, slowed reflexes, distorted vision, memory lapses, vomiting, and in extreme cases, even blackouts. When you drink alcohol it is absorbed directly into your bloodstream and about 20% of that drink is absorbed by your stomach. Drinking large amounts of alcohol at a time or binge drinking very rapidly can cause alcohol poisoning, which

Underage drinking is a serious public health problem with dangerous consequences. Although it’s illegal, kids aged 12 to 20 drink 11% of all the alcohol consumed in the U.S. More than 90% of this alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinking. Another risk factor is mixing alcohol with super-caffeinated energy drinks.

It’s difficult informing a child that drinking alcohol is bad for you, while the television and people around are participating in it. Teenagers are influenced by the entertainment business. For example, a movie might reveal drugs and alcohol as a good thing, in which formulates the choice easier for teenagers. Celebrities are loved by many and kids look up to these people and want to be just like them. Underage drinking could eventually lead to risky decisions that put themselves in danger. When making the decisions out of peer influence, the adolescent do not consider the situations that are potentially dangerous. This includes situations such as driving to the movies theaters after illegally purchasing alcohol, fighting with the peers, or excessively drinking of alcohol which is harmful to their health. In addition, those acts could eventually lead to other harmful choices such as the usage of drugs. That is why parental supervision and moral guidance is very important.

Alcohol in the United States is a widely used and a socially acceptable substance for adults of legal drinking age. According to SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use, more than half of Americans ages 12 and older have used alcohol within the past month. The focus of this paper is on the portion of Americans who are not allowed to legally purchase or consume alcohol, but still count as alcohol users. This portion of Americans is referred to as youth. Their age range is defined by SAMHSA as being between the ages 12-20. This age range is also known as “underage” or under the age in which one can consume or purchase alcohol legally. We will examine how use of alcohol within these ages can potentially increase the risk of developing alcohol use disorders and other adverse health effects and behaviors which can carry into adulthood while also acknowledging prevention methods and treatment for alcohol use in youth.

This knowledge is shared with parents, who may then conclude that adolescent drinking is happening right under their nose. This is not always the case. In a study done by McGillicuddy et al. (2012), they looked at the agreement between parent and adolescent reports on the adolescent’s alcohol use. That is, they asked parents and adolescents to report on how much the adolescent drank and compared the reports. What they found was that reports were in “poor” agreement regarding if the adolescent used alcohol at all, and were “fair-to-good” regarding alcohol consumption. Oftentimes, the parent overestimated use or reported they were using when the adolescent reported no use. This helps to show that parents may overestimate their adolescent’s alcohol use.