Preventing Underage Drinking

4,500. That’s around the average number of teens who die each year from alcohol in the United States. Some of these deaths have been from the expected alcohol poisoning or drunk-driving accidents, but others have causes that go a lot deeper than we would think. The CDC ran a study that combined data from 2006-2010 about teenagers that had alcohol related deaths. The study found that out of the average of 4,358 deaths, 492 were because of suicide. Drinking at an early age can not only lead to physical problems which most people are aware of. It can lead to mental problems and even social problems. There are many dangers of underage drinking, not only to the person drinking, but to those around them. In order to help prevent underage drinking, we have to know why teens drink and the warning signs that someone may have begun to abuse alcohol.

The first thing to worry about is the “health triangle.”
The health triangle is a tool that helps us know the balance we have to have in our lives. Everyone should strive to have good physical health, be mentally stable, and be social with others. Drinking during your teen years can affect all three of these aspects of life. The obvious part that gets affected due to drinking is your physical health. Approximately 188,000 underage kids have visited hospitals and emergency rooms due to injuries involving alcohol. 17% of fatal drunk driving accidents are caused by people under the age of 21. Drinking at a young age may cause a person to become an alcoholic later in life. A study showed that about 97,000 college students per year get physically or sexually assaulted due to alcohol. While you may think the alcohol is doing nothing to your insides when consuming it, alcohol strongly affects the brain and brain development. Alcohol also affects people mentally. When some people drink, they think it will help with their anxiety or depression. Consuming alcohol while the brain is still developing can cause worse anxiety and mental problems. Young drinkers get socially affected by drinking as well. Teens tend to lose friends after getting addicted to drugs or alcohol. Many teens focus on academics/sports and don’t want to risk their future by getting in trouble due to their friends.

In order to help those around us who underage drink, we have to figure out why they feel the need to drink.
Many things can make teens feel like they have to drink. One reason people under the age of 21 drink is peer pressure. The definition of peer pressure is influence from members of one’s peer group. If the “popular” kids at a school drink or participate in other dangerous activities, other kids are more likely to do the same things to try to be cool. Stress and emotions can also cause underage drinking. The teenage years are times when stress levels are very high because of school and emotions rapidly change due to hormones. A study was done in 2009 to see how teens cope with stress from school. About 30% of the 16 year olds that were tested said that they used alcohol to deal with stress. Although many teens drink, there are warning signs that you can look for and ways to help teen drinkers. Some of the warning signs that a person may be under the influence of alcohol include: low energy, mood swings, changes in behavior, and coordination
problems.