What Causes Teenage Alcoholism?

Teenage alcoholism is a significant and serious problem with more than seven million U.S. teens having consumed at least one drink in the past year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Moreover, one million youth ages 12 to 17 report drinking at least once a week or more.

These vulnerable individuals begin to experiment and take risks as they transition from childhood to adulthood.

Curiosity, peer pressure, and a desire to relax or escape problems can lead teens to alcohol trial and teenage alcoholism.

In addition, there are other key factors linked to teenage alcoholism. The National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse cites the following additional contributors to teenage drinking:

• Genetic Factors: Children of alcoholic parents are significantly more likely to initiate drinking during adolescence and to develop alcohol use disorders.

• Childhood Behavior: Research has shown that children who are very restless and impulsive at age 3 are twice as likely to be diagnosed with alcohol dependency at age 21. Aggressiveness in children as young as ages 5 to 10 has been found to predict alcohol and other drug use in adolescence.

• Psychiatric Disorders: Among 12- to 16-year-olds, regular alcohol use has been associated with early conduct disorder, anxiety and/or depression.

• Suicidal Behavior: Teenage alcoholsim has been associated with considering, planning, attempting, and completing suicide. Research does not indicate whether drinking causes suicidal behavior, only that the two behaviors are correlated.

• Parental Influences: Parents’ drinking behavior and favorable attitudes about drinking have been associated with adolescents’ initiating and continuing drinking.

  Conversely, lack of parental support, monitoring, and communication also has been significantly related to frequency of teenage alcoholism.

• Expectancies: Positive expectations from alcohol use have been found to increase with age and to predict the onset of drinking among adolescents.

Additional risk factors include experiencing learning disorders or other academic problems, delinquency, teen pregnancy and being a sibling of an adolescent who uses alcohol and illicit drugs.

Consequences of Underage Drinking

Research on adolescent brain development suggests that early heavy alcohol use may have negative effects on the physical development of brain structure.

As a result, youth with teenage alcoholism have more difficulty performing academically than their non-drinking counterparts. Alcohol has a direct effect on brain functioning that include decreased ability in planning and executive functioning, memory, spatial operations, and attention.

In addition to a lifetime of cognitive and challenges, teenage drinking can cause high-risk behaviors with devastating consequences that lead to unintentional death, injury and pain.

• Drinking and Driving: Youth are significantly over-represented in alcohol-related fatalities, compared with the older population. While only 7% of licensed drivers in 2000 were aged 15–20, they represented approximately 13% of drivers involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking.

  Research also shows that young people who have been drinking are less likely to wear a safety belt and more likely to get in a car with an intoxicated driver.

• Homicide and Crime: Alcohol has been reported to be involved in more than one third of homicides involving people under 21. Underage drinkers commit 45% of rapes, 44% of robberies, and 37% of other assaults -- and it is estimated that half of violent crime is alcohol-related.

  On college campuses 95% of all violent crime and 90% of college rapes involve the use of alcohol by the assailant, victim, or both

• Sexual Activity: Alcohol consumption influences teens’ decisions about sexual behavior. Nearly one third of 15- to 17-year-olds and 37% of 18- to 24-year-olds reported that alcohol or drugs influenced their decision to do something sexual.

  A college survey conducted by the Boston University School of Public Health showed that among drinkers, those who were first drunk before the age of 13 were twice as likely to have unplanned sex and more than twice as likely to have unprotected sex. Parents play a vital role in helping teens avoid alcohol. The Alliance on Underage Drinking (ALOUD)offers the following recommendations on ways parents can make a difference.

• Set a Good Example. Your children are watching you. Be moderate in your own use of alcohol or abstain altogether, and avoid using alcohol as a way to relax or cope with problems. Don’t drink under unsafe conditions such as while driving. Your child will not make safe decisions if you don’t.

• Lay down the ground rules. Teach your child that alcohol is not an option.

  When parents “bargain” with kids, allowing them to drink as long as they promise not to drive, kids are actually more likely to drive after drinking or to be in a car with someone who has been drinking.

  Set reasonable but firm rules that you will enforce. And make the legal consequences and your family’s rules and consequences known.

• Listen to your children. Pay attention to them and play an active role in their lives. Build their self-esteem and avoid constant criticism.

  Let them talk to you without interrupting them or taking issue with their point of view. Research shows that one of the best ways to prevent alcohol use and abuse is communication between parent and child.

• Talk to your children. Teach your children that actions have consequences at any age, and every choice matters. Talk to them about alcohol, and everything else! And start early. The teen-age years often bring strong feelings and emotions. Establish a strong foundation by beginning a dialog in their pre-teen years.

• Keep the lines of communication open. One or two conversations about alcohol with your children is not enough. If you want them to come to you, you’re going to have to get comfortable with difficult subjects.

  Encourage discussion on topics of concern to your teenager: alcohol, drugs, sex and the need for peer group acceptance.

• Don’t be naïve. Watch for signs of abuse like dropping grades, switching friends, missing money, and withdrawal – to name just a few. If you sense a problem, seek help. It could save your child’s life.

• Refuse to supply alcohol to youth.

• Be at home when your teen has a party. Make sure that alcohol is not brought into your home or on your property by your teen’s friends.

• Talk to other parents about not providing alcohol at other events your child will be attending.

• Create alcohol-free opportunities and activities in your home so teens will feel welcome.

• Report underage drinking to the authorities.

Sources:
-Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
-National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
-Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility, a 2004 report from The National Academies
-Alliance for Underage Drinking (ALOUD)

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