Underage Drinking

Although underage drinking is steadily declining, the use of alcohol is quite prevalent in today’s society. From middle school to high school and indeed college, underage drinking occurs all around the world. Though the legal drinking age is twenty-one, people as young as twelve years old consume alcohol. Due to genetics, peers, and social media underage drinking occurs. Without the help of families, schools, and extracurricular activities underage drinking would increase and negatively affect underage users physically, mentally, and socially.
Numerous underage drinkers consume alcohol due to hereditary, environmental, and social media factors. For example, the use of alcohol by underage individuals can be directly linked to genetics. In addition,
being a child of an alcoholic family or having multiple family members who drink alcohol regularly increases the risk for a child to drink underage. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “children of alcoholics are between four and ten times more likely to become alcoholics themselves than are children who have no close relatives with alcoholism” (Underage Drinking). In addition to hereditary factors, environmental factors such as peers can influence individuals who are underage to drink. For instance, some underage individuals have friends who are of legal age to drink. Therefore, those friends can easily pressure the underage individuals into drinking. However, underage individuals can have friends who are also underage that play a role in influencing them to drink. Friendships are bonds, and when an individual has a bond with someone, there is a line of trust that the individual forms. Consequently, the urge to try a drink is quite stronger due to peer pressure. Several social media sources such as television shows, movies, music , and sites such as Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook can and will influence teenagers. It only takes one post for an image to plant the idea of drinking inside a teenagers head. Also, the more teenagers see alcohol, the more likely they are to have an interest in alcohol.
Looking into a variety of statistics shows the use of alcohol from individuals aging from twelve to twenty. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism, individuals ages twelve through twenty drink eleven percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States. Though, this is a small percentage compared to adult drinkers, when underage individuals drink they often drink more. This is because underage individuals consume more than a whopping ninety percent of their alcohol by binge drinking (Underage Drinking). Furthermore, by age fifteen, about thirty-three percent of teens have at least one drink (National Institute of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism). This means that more than a quarter of teens before entering high school have consumed alcohol. With all of these teens drinking alcohol, a number of problems can occur.
Overall, the use of alcohol can have detrimental effects on teens, including physical and mental problems.
Physical problems include liver damage, as well as growth effects. An elevation of liver enzymes can occur due to drinking. Specifically, young drinkers who are overweight or obese show elevation of liver enzymes even with only moderate levels of drinking (National Institute of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism). In both males and females, puberty is a period when young individuals go through drastic hormonal changes. Hormonal changes include an increase in the sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone. These hormones result in the production of other hormones and growth factors, “which are vital for normal organ development” (National Institute of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism). If underage individuals drink alcohol during this development, the critical hormonal balance necessary for normal development of organs, muscles, and bones may be upset (National Institute of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism). Along with physical factors, there are mental factors such as brain damage that can occur. Exposing the brain to even a subtle amount of alcohol can interrupt vital processes of brain development, possibly leading to the impairment of cognitive functions. On top of physical and mental problems, a number of social consequences can
occur.
Social consequences such as drinking and driving, suicide, sexual assault, and high-risk sex can arise due to underage drinking.
In fact, according to the National Institute of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism, motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death among youth ages fifteen to twenty who drink alcohol (Underage Drinking: A Major Public Health Challenge). Another interesting fact from the National Institute of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism states “the rate of fatal crashes among alcohol–involved drivers between 16 and 20 years old is more than twice the rate for alcohol–involved drivers 21 and older” (Underage Drinking: A Major Public Health Challenge). In other words, motor vehicle accidents due to the use of alcohol are more likely to occur with an underage individual behind the wheel. Along with motor vehicle accidents there is the risk of suicide, which is the third leading cause of death of individuals who drink between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five (National Institute of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism). Also, sexual assault, including rape, occurs commonly among women in late adolescence. The chances of sexual assault can increase due to an offenders use of alcohol, a victim, or in some cases both. Similar to sexual assault, high-risk sex, for example, having multiple sexual partners while not using condoms, can occur being under the influence. Although, there are a number of effects from alcohol use, specifically for underage individuals, there are multiple
interventions to help reduce underage drinking.
Interventions including school, extracurricular, and family strategies help decrease under age drinking. Though, is has not come to a stop, the confutation of these programs can help the percentages of underage drinkers decrease more. For example, some schools implement a variety of classes teaching the effects of alcohol consumption. Also, the development of personal, social, and resistance schools through out school programs help the steady decrease in underage drinking. Similar to school strategies, there are many extracurricular activities that take place every day. For instance, there are youth leadership programs that promote the youth making changes to the local policies and practices that affect youth access to alcohol (Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol). Other extracurricular activities include intensive programs and adult mentors. Along with extracurricular activities, families can play huge roles in whether an underage individual drinks or not. For example, having better parent-child relationship using positive reinforcement, listening, communication skills, and problem solving can decrease the risk of an underage individual consuming alcohol. In addition, monitoring children more heavily as well as setting rules and guidelines can help individuals who are underage stay away from alcohol. With these strategies taking place, underage drinking has been decreasing and can continue to decrease.
Underage drinking is a problem throughout the entire United States. Therefore, consequences such as motor vehicle accidents, suicide, sexual assault, high-risk sex, growth, and brain and liver damage can and will affect these underage individuals. However, through the help of schools, extracurricular activities, and families underage drinking is steadily decreasing and can continue to decrease. Ultimately, the underage drinking dropped six point one percent from 2002 to 2013. In addition, binge drinking among individuals ages twelve through twenty declined by five point one percent (Underage Drinking Decreasing: Government Report). Continuing these interventions can increase these numbers and help individuals who are underage stay away from alcohol.