Teenage Alcohol Dependency and the Negative Consequences of Risky Drinking

Teenage alcoholism is a progressive debilitating disease by youth and young adults between the ages of 12 and 20. Alcohol addiction, no matter whether the person is a teenage or an adult, is characterized by the following four key features:

· Physical dependence – experiencing withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, the shakes, excessive sweating, or nausea after stopping drinking.

· Loss of control – the inability to stop drinking once the person has started drinking.

· Craving - a strong need or compulsion to drink.

· Tolerance - the need to drink increasingly more amounts of alcohol in order to get a “buzz” or to get “high.”

teenage alcohol addiction

According to a 2005 study by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), teen access to alcohol through illegal purchases at alcohol retail establishments across the United States is pervasive.

A key point in the study of adolescent alcohol dependence is that alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are not only adult problems.

That is, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence also affect a significant number of adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12 and 20, even though drinking under the age of 21 is illegal.

Alcohol is by far the drug of choice among teens. It is the most used and abused mood-altering substance among pre-teens and teenage children.

negative consequences

The following represents some of the dangerous consequences of teen abusive drinking and alcoholism.

· Hazardous drinking can cause or mask other psychological problems such as depression or anxiety.

· Adolescents who begin drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to develop alcoholism than people who begin drinking at the age of 21.

· The younger people are when they begin drinking, the more likely they are to develop alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency.

· Individuals who begin binge drinking at the age of 13 and continue throughout adolescence are nearly four times as likely to be overweight or obese and almost 3½ times as likely to have high blood pressure when they are 24 as compared with people who never or rarely drink excessively during adolescence.

· Alcohol abuse is linked with the deaths of youth by drowning, fire, suicide, and homicide.

· An early age of drinking onset is correlated with alcohol-related violence not only regarding teenagers under the age of 21 but among adults as well.

· Alcohol poisoning. Not everyone who binge drinks gets alcohol poisoning, but it affects teens more than any other age group. Alcohol is rapidly absorbed through the stomach lining and drinking too much too fast can be deadly.

· Adolescents who drink are more likely to engage in sexual activity, have unprotected sex, have sex with a stranger, or have sex with multiple partners than teens who don't drink.

· The consequences of high-risk sex also are common by teens, particularly unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

· Each year, almost 2000 people under the age of 21 years old die in car crashes in which underage drinking is involved. Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all violent deaths involving teens.

A recent study revealed that drinking by teens, unlike their use of illicit drugs, is more strongly associated with social factors than with antisocial behavior.

risky drinking

Rather than trying to stop all teen alcohol consumption (because alcohol consumption is something that is almost universally done by American adolescents), prevention efforts might more profitably focus on alcohol abuse, particularly in conjunction with youths' propensity to drink with friends and with acquaintances. And a special focus should be made on the most prevalent forms of hazardous drinking behavior such as drinking while engaging in illicit drug use, binge drinking, and drinking and driving.

To guarantee ongoing decreases in adolescent drinking, more stern parental, community, and societal efforts to reinforce prevention messages are clearly needed. Such efforts could range from closer parental supervision of teenagers' parties to reducing media images that associate drinking with popularity, high status, good times, and glamor.

The message is obvious: alcohol use is very chancy for teenagers. The longer youths delay alcohol use, what is more, the less likely they are to develop any problems that are associated with alcohol abuse or alcoholism.