Navigation: Why Do Teens Drink?, Peer Pressure, Curiosity and Pushing Boundaries, Seeing Parents Drink, Self-Medicating, Is Drinking Alcohol Dangerous for Teens?, How Many Teenagers Drink Alcohol?, Teenagers and Binge Drinking, How to Prevent Teen Alcohol Abuse, Warning Signs of Underage Drinking, What to do if Your Child is Drinking
In many parts of the world, drinking alcohol is considered socially acceptable. Consuming alcohol is also a part of American culture, and has been for most of its history. However, this brings certain problems, particularly alcohol abuse and underage drinking.
Lawmakers even decided to restrict the drinking age, citing the fact that you need some level of maturity to handle the effects of alcohol. But even with these age restrictions in place, a lot of teenagers still drink. And since it causes plenty of problems, it is important to talk about why teens drink alcohol and how it affects them.
As the most widely abused substance in the US, alcohol affects many families around the country. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism can create challenges for families because it can lead to aggressive behavior, injuries, property damage, violence, overdose, and even death. Underage drinking also has its consequences, and it’s not just a problem that affects some families. This is a nationwide concern.
Let’s take a closer look at teenage drinking and the most common reasons behind it.
Why Do Teens Drink?
It is natural for children to look for independence as they grow up and mature. It is therefore normal for teens to look for new challenges, seek out new experiences, and even engage in risky behavior. But because alcohol use disorders are so common, it is important to consider why some adolescents drink to the point where they put their health at risk.
Just because they are young doesn’t mean they are immune to things like alcohol poisoning, alcohol overdose, and alcohol addiction. In fact, their reckless behavior may put them at greater risk of these things.
Teenagers may have different reasons for drinking alcohol. Everyone is different. It’s likely that they do not yet fully understand the potential impact of alcohol abuse on their health and behavior.
Aside from being clueless about the most severe effects of alcohol, some teens drink due to a combination of factors like stress, peer pressure, media influence, major life changes, etc.
Stress is one of the biggest factors here. Teenagers are moving through middle school and high school, facing classes that are getting progressively harder. Some of them are worried about their grades, some are stressing about their extracurricular activities, while some are just trying to fit in with their peers.
On top of dealing with academic stress, teens are also facing challenges at home while dealing with changes within their bodies caused by puberty. Some are living in toxic home environments, and some are living without emotional support from their parents.
These factors may all contribute to the development of alcohol use disorders in teens. It is important for parents to communicate with their kids about alcohol and the effects of teen drinking.
Peer Pressure
It’s normal for teens to want social approval from their peers. Whether it’s fitting in with the people they want to be friends with or gaining popularity in some way, a lot of teens want to be liked by the people around them.
Sometimes, in a bid to find to fit in with a particular social circle, teens drink alcohol. In fact, alcohol is common in social situations like big parties. It’s also common for teens to drink while just hanging out with friends. In these scenarios, it can be hard for some teens to say no to alcohol. They don’t want others to think they are uptight or uncool.
But peer pressure doesn’t always come in the literal form where people are pressuring you to drink. Teens may drink anyway in their desire to “belong”.
Curiosity and Pushing Boundaries
Some teens drink out of curiosity. This has something to do with growing up and becoming more independent. In their mind, they want to explore new avenues and try new things. Often, this means pushing against the established boundaries and occasionally breaking the rules.
During their teenage years, a lot of people want to feel grown-up. They want to be treated like adults as soon as possible, and they think part of that is drinking alcohol. Not to mention that in this age of social media, teenagers are seeing influencers and celebrities living their luxurious lifestyles, drinking alcohol and not worrying about the effects. This may pique their curiosity and think of drinking as something glamorous.
Even if their bodies are growing, their brains aren’t actually done developing. So even though they think they are grown, their brain development is still underway. It’s also part of the reason why teenagers remain highly impressionable even if they think they are already mature.
A lot of teenagers have a rebellious phase, trying out things that they are not supposed to do. But with the risk of alcoholism present, parents need to set clear limits and stand by their established punishments. It needs to be clear that breaking the rules leads to consequences.
Alcohol abuse can affect a person’s judgment, memory, and impulse control. It may even cause lasting damage to a teenager’s adolescent brain, impacting brain development.
Seeing Parents Drink
Speaking of being impressionable, teenagers may start drinking after witnessing their parents drink. It can make them curious about what alcohol tastes like. It can even lead them to believe that drinking alcohol is the normal thing rather than something you reserve for special occasions.
With this in mind, you have to remember to set a good example for children and teenagers.
Remember that people who start drinking earlier have a much higher chance of developing alcohol use disorder or alcohol addiction at a later point in life. So parents should show their kids what responsible behavior looks like.
For example, it should be established that driving under the influence of alcohol is bad, so parents should make sure their actions represent that by not drinking before driving. Teenagers tend to receive a lot of stimuli from everywhere, so they need to see good examples from their parents so they can make better decisions of their own, especially when it comes to alcohol.
Self-Medicating
Teenagers face a rollercoaster of emotions already. But this is made even worse by the fact that some of them are dealing with mental health issues. Teens are not exempted from anxiety disorders, depression, OCD, ADHD bipolar disorder, etc.
Dealing with a mental health disorder on top of all the stress they are already experiencing can be overwhelming for a teenager. These stressful feelings and mental health issues can push a teen to drink alcohol in an attempt to cope with their symptoms.
Instead of looking for help with their mental health issues, they self-medicate with alcohol and try to wash away their problems. However, this only leads to more problems in the long run because alcohol abuse has plenty of adverse physical and mental health effects.
This is why there are also dual diagnosis treatment programs designed for teenagers. These addiction treatment programs address alcohol addiction and co-occurring mental health problems simultaneously. You can’t treat one without addressing the other.
Is Drinking Alcohol Dangerous for Teens?
It goes without saying that alcohol abuse is definitely dangerous for teens. However, we need to take a look at exactly how dangerous it is by looking at potential effects.
Drinking alcohol prevents you from making good decisions. It impairs your judgment and decision-making abilities. As with adults, teenage drinking can make a person more susceptible to accidents, injuries, and falls. In fact, alcohol is also a common cause of death for people younger than 21.
Drinking while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is also dangerous. It increases your risk of getting into a vehicular accident. Not only are you putting yourself in danger of a motor vehicle crash, you are also endangering other people who are sharing the road with you.
Even if they don’t get into a fatal car accident, drinking alcohol can lead to serious injuries. In 2011, there were around 188,000 people under the age of 21 who visited emergency rooms for alcohol-related injuries.
Besides getting into accidents, teenagers who start drinking at a young age also have an increased risk of developing an AUD later in life. The earlier you start drinking, the higher the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic at some point in the future.
How Many Teenagers Drink Alcohol?
In the year 2019, around 24.6% of youth ages 14 to 15 reported having at least one drink in their lifetime. That same year, about 7 million youth ages 12 to 20 reported drinking just “a few sips” of alcohol within the past month.
It is important here to define how much alcohol a single drink contains. In the US, any beverage with 0.6 fluid ounces or 14 grams of pure alcohol is considered a standard drink. This means a standard drink is 12 ounces of beer with around 5% alcohol content, 5 ounces of wine with about 12% alcohol, and 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits that have about 40% alcohol content.
While these standard drink amounts can help you follow health guidelines, it does not always reflect the usual serving sizes.
Teenagers and Binge Drinking
Binge drinking is very common in big parties and large social events, which means teens are usually exposed to this type of behavior. But what does binge drinking mean?
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), binge drinking is a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 percent or more. Basically, binge drinking is when you drink excessive amounts of alcohol in just one sitting.
Usually binge drinking for women means having 4 or more standard drinks within two hours. For men, that’s 5 or more drinks. However, for teenagers, it may take fewer drinks to reach the same BAC. It may only take 3 drinks for girls and 3 to 5 drinks for boys. This is also affected by certain factors like age and body weight.
Binge drinking is very common among teenagers, unfortunately. An estimated 4.2 million youth said they participated in binge drinking at least once within the past month back in 2019.
How to Prevent Teen Alcohol Abuse
People who are under the legal drinking age face an increased risk of alcohol addiction, dependence, and overdose.
Some teens can develop a drinking problem if they are not given proper intervention. It is the responsibility of the parents to guide their children towards addiction treatment and rehab if their drinking habits end up becoming problematic.
Some teenagers don’t realize that addiction can happen to them. They think it’s just something that happens in television shows and movies. But abusing alcohol can definitely lead to addiction and dependence.
It is not easy to prevent underage drinking. The success of your intervention will depend on factors like the teen’s personality, their genetics, their level of exposure to risk factors, etc.
Various interventions may be used to help prevent alcohol from causing any further damage. Teenagers may go through individual-level interventions, family interventions, community-based interventions, and even school-based interventions.
Warning Signs of Underage Drinking
Unfortunately, even with these interventions, some teenagers will continue to drink—and some of them will drink excessively. It is important to know what warning signs and symptoms to watch out for so you can help your child break their pattern of alcohol abuse.
Watch out for changes in their mood. They may become irritable or angry for no apparent reason, but especially if you ask them about their drinking habits. They may become rebellious, breaking rules on purpose and not following curfew.
Teenagers may choose to spend time with people who tolerate or encourage their drinking. They may change their groups of friends, preferring to hang out with new friends who drink alcohol. People with alcohol use disorder tend to lie about how much they are drinking, who they are spending time with, and their whereabouts.
Because their focus will shift towards alcohol, they may suffer from academic problems in school. Aside from low grades, they may also display behavioral problems, causing trouble or breaking school rules. They will spend most of their time thinking about alcohol, trying to acquire alcohol, drinking, and recovering from the effects of alcohol.
Also watch out for the usual signs of alcohol abuse like slurred speech, low energy, coordination problems, and smelling alcohol on their breath.
Alcohol addiction is characterized by the compulsive intake of alcohol even when the person is already suffering from its adverse health effects. They will keep drinking despite the consequences.
They may even lose interest in things they used to enjoy, abandoning hobbies, neglecting their responsibilities, and cutting off certain people. Friends and family members are usually the first ones to notice these behavioral changes. If your child is in denial about their alcohol intake, you may have to stage an intervention.
What to do if Your Child is Drinking
If you think your child may be drinking, just stay calm and have an honest conversation with them without being confrontational. It needs to be a non-threatening conversation where they feel safe to speak to you about the topic.
Ask them about why they are drinking. They may have problems that you can help them with. Addressing the underlying cause of alcohol use can help them stop drinking.
Your child is most likely in the experimenting stage of alcohol use and does not yet have a full-blown alcohol addiction or alcohol use disorder. You can still guide them before they develop a more serious problem.
Have an open discussion about the risks of alcohol use. Seek treatment for their substance use problem if necessary. There are proper treatments that they can go to. They don’t even have to commit to an inpatient program. There are plenty of outpatient alcohol treatment programs that will help them get the treatment they need without missing their classes.
Professional health care providers can give them guidance that will help them stop misusing alcohol.
Whether it’s drugs or alcohol, substance abuse is a serious problem that can lead to dangerous physical and mental health issues.
Look for an alcohol treatment center near you today and learn more about treatment options for teenagers. You can still prevent underage drinking. And even if your child is already struggling with addiction, there are treatments available that can help them get sober again. Get them started on the path to sobriety today,
Why Do Teens Drink? https://t.co/ITtQUaUkQG #rehabnearme
— RehabNearMe (@RehabNear_Me) September 12, 2024
