Youth in the united states prefer drinking alcohol over any other mood-altering substance. Alcohol Consumption often results to impaired decision making, risky behavior and poor coordination. Environmental stimuli such as drinking parents and siblings can precipitate a youth’s propensity to start drinking. When a youth sees that atleast one of his parents drinks alcohol, he will more likely to drink alcohol too. In the Family Family is considered one of the factors influencing teens to engage in the use of alcohol.
Since alcohol is the most used drug among adolescents, underage drinking is a problem that is becoming more common in the upcoming generation. As a result of underage drinking, many adolescents find themselves becoming addicted, or abusing alcohol and drugs. Underage drinking, drug abuse, and addiction are serious problems that can be avoided if people take the proper procedures to educate adolescents about the dangers and effects that may occur because of it. Adolescents should be education about the physical health problems that may transpire as a result of alcohol. They should have basic knowledge of what alcohol is, and what its effects are.
Underage drinking is illegal yet very popular. There are many different reasons why teenagers drink. Some teenagers drink to appear cool, while on the other hand others drink for stress related issues. It has now become a rampant activity being done by many teenagers of today’s generation. Some teenagers sneak and drink at parties and other places without their parents even knowing.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services acknowledges that there are 10 million teens in the United States drinking regularly and over 20 percent binge drink. ( Teen Alcoholism). This information illustrates the dependence that teens have developed for alcohol and many of them don 't even know the issue that they are building for themselves. The signs that demonstrate that a teen is becoming or is addicted to alcohol are that he/she is a heavy drinker, they drink regularly for no reason and becoming upset over the removal of accessibility of alcohol. ( Teen Alcoholism).
World health organization (1992) found that large numbers of push factors are causing to the increasing incidence of substances. Substance use and abuse is found among all the age groups especially in children, adolescents and youths. The problem of substance abuse among adolescents is alarming worldwide. Adolescents start substances for the reasons such as; curiosity, recreation, to cope with stress (Saxena V, et al; 2010). Many studies shows that large numbers of children are addicted to substance and many more number of factors push these children to use substances.
Teofilo Malca Professor Mirchandani ENGL 101 October 2, 2014 Why Kids Try Drugs for the First Time Adolescence is a period of life in which kids are exploring the life as grown ups. Many adolescents are tempted to start using drugs like Alcohol, Tobacco and Cannabis, which are the most popular drugs used by teens. Teenagers do not realize the damage that drugs cause to their bodies and minds. Peer pressure, social acceptance, not fully developed brain, depression, stress, curiosity, misuse of technology, the environment, TV and movies are the most common reasons for the adolescents to try drugs for their first time. For this and many other reasons, they are incited to try something new that they think will help them be free and show them that they can break any boundaries in their lives, whether from their parents or anyone they feel controlled by.
Teenagers believe that adults have failed to stop their peers from using and abusing drugs especially with the recent use of prescription drugs. Many teenagers who are finding it hard to obtain drugs on the streets are turning to their parent’s medicine cabinets and are abusing these prescription drugs. Examples of these drugs are Xanax, Benzodiazepine and so on. In an article by PR Newswire, teenagers have rated adults as a D+ on stopping teenager from drinking,
6). From this we can conclude that the statistic of drug usage is way too high and may be the cause of more harmful effects such as overdoses. While alcohol is still a drug and still has the potential of being very dangerous heroin and other street drugs do not seem to be a adequate and safe substitute and is proven to be even more dangerous. When we look at Opioid and other drug use in America compared to other countries we notice that america is one of the leading countries in drug use around the
It can influence young teens into doing many things that could potentially ruin their lives. Teens that are negatively influenced by gangs often start doing drugs and drinking alcohol under the necessary age requirement. This can lead to addiction to drugs, which can also lead to health problems. Teens that are influenced by gangs are often at risk of dropping out of school. These teens could start to direct their attention to gangs rather than to their school work.
Underage Drinking: The Futuristic Considerations Introduction Alcohol continues to be a major problem for adolescents in the United States. Alcohol remains the substance used by majority of youth (Windle). Therefore, how can we decrease the negative act of underage drinking in the United States? According to Christina Burke, senior research assistant in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, “Studies have demonstrated that alcohol exposure during adolescence and young adulthood can significantly interfere with normal brain development and function” (Tapert et al.). With alcohol use, the future of these teenagers is at risk.