Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol is very often the drug of choice for kids and teenagers. Since it is a legal drug for adults, it is the easiest drug to obtain, especially if parents keep a stocked bar in the home for their own social activities. When you consider how often kids are exposed to images in the media and examples in their communities of adults laughing at parties with cocktails in their hands, it is easy to understand how drinking can appear to be a normal, acceptable activity — and one that has the potential to make a depressed teen feel a lot better very quickly.
Alcohol is a social drug for teenagers as well, and statistics show that teens use alcohol more frequently and earlier than other ‘recreational’ drugs. Peer pressure is also a factor in teenage alcohol abuse. The average age when a child tries their first drink is 13 years old for girls and 11 years old for boys. And people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop a drinking problem than people who do not drink until they are 21 years old.
Considering the sheer amount of ‘harder’ drugs available to young people today, some parents may feel relieved that their child is ‘only’ drinking a beer now and then. But alcohol is a serious and extremely strong drug that affects the body, mood, judgment, coordination, and inhibitions. The brain of a teenager is still developing, and recent research has indicated that drinking may effect neurological development, impairing memory and learning abilities.
Teenagers who drink are at a much greater risk to be seriously harmed:
- Alcohol-related car accidents are a leading cause of death among teenagers and of vehicular manslaughter of others.
- Alcohol increases the risks of sports injuries and drowning.
- Alcohol is often a factor in teenager runaways and suicides.
- Teenagers using alcohol are more likely to participate in sexual activity before being emotionally ready, more likely to sleep with multiple partners, and more likely to have unprotected sex.
- Teenagers who drink are more likely to become the victims of sexual assault or the perpetrators of sexual assault.
- Teenagers who drink are more likely to have problems academically and socially in the school environment.
When teenagers repeatedly turn to alcohol to deal with problems and to alleviate emotional pain, they are learning a behavior that has the power to affect them the rest of their lives. The brain imprints the act and effect of alcohol use as an immediate escape from pain and anxiety. In the future, when these feelings arise, the unconscious reacts with a craving for alcohol, and it is this craving that is the source of drug and alcohol addiction.
Article written by Jillian Blume
