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Teenage Alcohol Abuse: A Critical Problem

15 July 2009 One Comment

Alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Numerous alcohol addiction consultants affirm that alcohol advertisements generated by the media are a significant reason for the expansion of teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcohol addiction experts stress the point that the increase in youth alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and accessibility of liquor, beer, and wine in our society.

Still other alcohol addiction specialists stress the point that numerous teens get involved in harmful drinking because of the increased anxiety that they are subjected to.

From a somewhat different perspective, since both parents in a number of families work full or part-time, the lack of parental guidance positively has to play a fundamental role in the rise in adolescent alcohol abuse. And last but not least, various chemical dependency specialists assert that the proliferation of youth alcohol abuse is due, at least partially, to our lax society.

Abusive Drinking and Coping Skills

One aspect of teenage alcohol abuse that seems to be lacking in the alcohol addiction research findings, however, is the shortage of educational programs that teach adolescents how to enhance their coping skills so that their dangerous drinking behavior is drastically reduced or done away with.

More precisely, science has illustrated the fact that there is an indirect correlation between poor coping skills and hazardous drinking. In essence, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the greater the incidence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a correct line of reasoning, why isn’t coping skills education a major part of the academic core curriculum in all of our junior high schools, elementary schools, and high schools?

A Society That Accentuates Youth Coping Skills

Let us create a scenario for for the purpose of elucidation. Let us imagine a society in which all individuals are taught how to develop solid coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their final year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets challenging, individuals who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more successful manner, as opposed to others who fail to apply their coping skills.

More explicitly, students who demonstrate sound coping skills will be more able to think logically and display superior decision making as opposed to students who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement top quality coping skills, resort to the “quick fix” of excessive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, additionally, if teenagers not only got first class coping skills education but also got an outstanding education that accentuated the long term and short term negative consequences associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these kinds of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills education, it is asserted, would help teens avoid the noticeable appeal correlated with youth drinking and, for that reason, would drastically decrease the hazardous drinking behavior undertaken by teens in our country.

Teen Risky Drinking: Conclusion

There are indubitably various sound reasons why so many of our teenagers drink in a destructive manner. Such a tricky subject demands a comprehensive and more pertinent educational and preventative response by our politicians, parents, educators, and students so that our adolescents can learn how to cope with life’s problems in a more fruitful and responsible manner instead of resorting to excessive drinking behavior to solve their problems.

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One Comment »

  • VeritasVilla said:

    Most chemically dependent people, even teenagers, using alcohol and drugs deny that they have a problem. They deny that they need help. They deny that their lives are falling apart because of their inability to stop alcohol addiction, and so on. Until this denial is broken through, no amount of treatment or therapy will be effective.

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