Underage drinking

Underage Drinking
Underage drinkers drink to look cool and it may be the social thing to do at the latest party or even at home; feeling curious a teen may consume alcohol to fit in with their surroundings. This can be due to the fact that the minor could be pressured into drinking. With all the popular media hype about alcohol and especially during the Super Bowl; it just shows minors that it is okay to participate in drinking and if they do, this great boost will occur. The other cause to these other influences could have already had happened, such as the childhood experience being abused by the drunken father or alcoholic mother who does not nurture her children. Underage drinking is detrimental to the health of themselves and others whom they affect; it is an ongoing problem that continues, with the number of students increasing each year.
Drinking underage can be linked to advertising that is very persuasive to the minors. These advertisements, some say target children, but the alcohol companies deny. In efforts to prove the people wrong; alcohol companies have put forth their part into making an advertisement discouraging alcohol abuse. The advertisements make the young minded minors to think drinking can put on physical attractiveness, it is fun, or gives special powers to make the person better at athletics. Some would say the audience that is targeted in the beer advertisements, such as Bud Light, are indeed minors, seeing an alcoholic beverage and having the appeal to take action are different. One of the advertisements by Bug Light were shown on the Super Bowl commercials of people stranded on an island; they found a radio, but instead of using it to find help, they found a cart of alcoholic beverages and showed them having the best time on the island. The reality of this commercial is saying to teens, if you drink alcohol you will have the best time of your life. Especially, when those minors are being pressured into by their peers to take the shot, it makes the situation into a more dangerous one.
Having a party with friends is one thing, but if that party host has access to their parents liquor stash it becomes a different party. “Rates are higher among 12th graders, with 72% reporting at least one alcoholic drink during their lifetime, 43% reported at least one drink in the past 30 days, 28% reporting drunkenness in the past 30 days, and 3% reported daily use of alcohol (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008; Johnson et al., 2009)” (Song). These statistics are also closely related to my own experience, my own friends would come to the football game under the influence or go to the party this weekend which had alcohol. Drinking while in high school can also be lead to drinking in college, but the major difference is that alcohol is more demanding at the college parties. Minor’s consequences on whom drinks can also increase their risk of unhealthy outcomes; such as fighting one another, which can lead to injuries, reckless sexual behavior and driving under the influence. While many do not have parents who have alcohol at their house, there are many ways of obtaining alcohol by having fake ID’s, by asking a stranger and giving them extra money for buying the booze for them; making college parties that much easier to obtain alcohol. “Researchers have identified a number of factors that contribute to adolescent alcohol use, including being male, having easy access to alcohol, having a high propensity for risk-taking, and believing that most peers also drink alcohol” (Song). Minors receive biases messages about alcohol, it can be from the D.A.R.E program that educates the minors about the drugs and what it does to their bodies. The other messages could be from biased adults and popular media whom say one drink will not hurt, but the fact is that one drink can harm the body of the minor in psychological and physical ways.
One of the counter arguments about underage drinking is lowering the drinking age to prevent binge-drinking at age 18 or 19 years old. “The problem is that underage drinking is now forced off campus, leading to “a culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking’” (Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly). Having the law as it is, makes the drinking go farther than the campus walls. If the age at which people are legal to drink is lowered, then the developing minds that are affected by the alcohol can reduce the minor’s chances of being successful. Having the age at 21 is good, not only does it prevent alcohol-related trauma, “But 10 percent of a state’s federal highway funds are cut if the state doesn’t mandate a drinking age of 21” (Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly).
Popular media, community norms, and peer pressure, all have a fundamental root cause to why adolescents drink at such an early age, it is because of their childhood experience. In order to be able to understand why college students are drinking at such an early age, analyzing how they were raised and their family life can be a big factor. One’s childhood experience can drastically take for the worst if their mother, father, or parental guardian is a drunk. Every night they would come home from drinking at the bar, see their child and tell them that everything is okay; the child would start to develop the idea that coming home drunk is an okay thing to do. The reason for the child’s drinking at an early age would be to cope with such a graphic image of their parent figure drinking and acting out violently towards their loved ones, “First, it created physical and emotional stress, which participants believed could be reduced through alcohol use. Second, victims of abuse began “to stop caring” about what happened to them or what people thought about their behavior. Third, many abuse victims absented themselves in order to escape the abuse, removing themselves to unsupervised or risky settings where they were offered, or it was easy to obtain, alcohol and drugs” (Rothman). The turn to alcohol is easy with a motive, such as lessening or not dealing with the burden put on the child through the traumatization. The risks to drinking can be the underdevelopment of the brain, although the changes are subtle, over a long period of time it can be noticeable. The liver and the growth hormones are affected by the consumption of alcohol at the early ages; they tend to produce a lot of liver enzyme, which is indicating some liver damage and throwing off the hormones of the adolescent’s puberty stage.
With the number of the population increasing, so does the student body, thus resulting in the pressures of drinking at an early age because of the ongoing problem with underage drinking. The cycle of underage drinking would occur, if the parents are young and are not ready to deal with a child; so when the child is growing the parents might be drinking because of the stress of dealing with the financial troubles if present. The problem on campus is not because the college students are doing it because they can, it is a variety of issues that causes them to take the drink at the college party. This problem is need of the utmost attention because it affects the student life on campus, it is also a matter of time until most of the student body is consumed by the pressures of drinking or taking the load off. Its impact on the community is detrimental to their personal health, but also the safety of others due to the fact that driving under the influence can be fatal to not only themselves, but whom they cause harm to.

Work Cited
Rothman, Emily F., Judith Bernstein, and Lee Strunin. "Why Might Adverse Childhood Experiences Lead To Underage Drinking Among US Youth? Findings From An Emergency Department-Based Qualitative Pilot Study."Substance Use & Misuse 45.13 (2010): 2281-2290. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.

Song, Eun-Young, et al. "Everyone Says It 's OK: Adolescents ' Perceptions Of Peer, Parent, And Community Alcohol Norms, Alcohol Consumption, And Alcohol-Related Consequences." Substance Use & Misuse 47.1 (2012): 86-98.Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.

"College Presidents Call For A Debate On Lowering The Drinking Age To 18. (Cover Story)." Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly 20.34 (2008): 1-3. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

Cited: Rothman, Emily F., Judith Bernstein, and Lee Strunin. "Why Might Adverse Childhood Experiences Lead To Underage Drinking Among US Youth? Findings From An Emergency Department-Based Qualitative Pilot Study."Substance Use & Misuse 45.13 (2010): 2281-2290. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. Song, Eun-Young, et al. "Everyone Says It 's OK: Adolescents ' Perceptions Of Peer, Parent, And Community Alcohol Norms, Alcohol Consumption, And Alcohol-Related Consequences." Substance Use & Misuse 47.1 (2012): 86-98.Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. "College Presidents Call For A Debate On Lowering The Drinking Age To 18. (Cover Story)." Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly 20.34 (2008): 1-3. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.