Youth Alcohol Abuse: A Hazardous Problem
Recent alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among teenagers is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Numerous alcohol addiction experts think that wine, beer, and liquor ads generated by the media are a key reason for the proliferation of teen alcohol abuse.
Other alcoholism consultants declare that the increase in youth alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and convenience of beer, liquor, and wine in our society.
Still other alcoholism specialists articulate that numerous adolescents get involved in destructive drinking because of the increased tension that they undergo.
From a somewhat different viewpoint, due to the fact that both parents in a number of families work full or part-time, the lack of parental supervision evidently has to play an essential role in the rise in teenage alcohol abuse. And lastly, diverse alcohol dependency professionals declare that the escalation of teenage alcohol abuse is due, in some degree, to our “anything goes” society.
Excessive Drinking and Coping Skills Education
One facet of teen alcohol abuse that seems to be somewhat incomplete in the alcohol addiction research literature, alternatively, is the lack of educational programs that teach teenagers how to enhance their coping skills so that their excessive drinking behavior is notably reduced or exterminated.
More specifically, science has illustrated the fact that there is an indirect correlation between poor coping skills and abusive drinking. In actual fact, this means that the worse the coping skills, the higher the incidence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a truthful contention, why isn’t coping skills education a key part of the educational core curriculum in all of our junior high schools, elementary schools, and high schools?
A Society That Emphasizes Youth Coping Skills
Let us construct a scenario for the purpose of clarification. Let us imagine a society in which students are taught how to achieve first rate coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their senior year in high school.
In such a society, when life gets complicated, individuals who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a healthier and more creative way, as opposed to others who fail to put their coping skills into action.
Stated more explicitly, students who display first-class coping skills will be more able to think clearly and display top-shelf decision making as opposed to adolescents who, because they lack quality coping skills, resort to the “quick fix” of hazardous drinking.
What would happen in the above “ideal” society, moreover, if teens not only obtained first-rate coping skills instruction but also received an exclusive education that focused on the short term and long term devastating costs associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Such an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills training, it is emphasized, would help teens steer clear of the apparent allure of underage drinking and, consequently, would notably lessen the risky drinking behavior exhibited by adolescents in our country.
Adolescent Alcohol Abuse: Conclusion
There are clearly various defensible reasons why so many of our teenagers abuse alcohol. Such a complex subject matter demands an all-inclusive and more pertinent educational and preventative response by our politicians, educators, students, and parents so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s problems in a more productive and accountable way instead of resorting to alcohol abuse to solve their difficulties.
Tags: adolescent alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse facts, alcohol abuse statistics, teen alcohol abuse, teenage alcohol abuse, youth alcohol abuse