Causes and Consequences of Underage Drinking - Coursework Example

Paul R. Tomko English number] 5 Dec. 2008 Underage Drinking: Its Causes and Consequences There is alarming and growingtrend in the United States of underage drinking. This trend undoubtedly has posed a great threat to the normal life and behavior patterns of adolescents in this nation. In the United States, drinking among school children and adolescents has become commonplace. The consumption of alcohol has affected the adolescent and underage population in the U. S. more than smoking of tobacco or marijuana. This fact reveals the gravity and the magnitude of this issue. The changing American lifestyle, postmodernism, disintegration of the traditional family unit, and various biological and psychological factors have contributed to growth rate of underage drinking. The adverse consequences of underage drinking have prompted the federal government officials to enforce new legislation in an effort to confront the issue. However, such legislation and various other measures have proved unsuccessful in lowering the rate of underage drinking. In this paper, this author analyzes the various patterns and trends of underage drinking in the nation, discusses the various causes and consequences of the issue; and offers certain solutions to the problem. An analysis of the available statistical data reinforces the trend of increased adolescent drinking in the nation. In a report on underage drinking in the United States entitled, “Underage Drinking in the United States: A Status Report”, researchers at the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University revealed some shocking observations. The researchers showed that the number of young people under the age of 21 who resort to a drinking habit has increased significantly in the past few decades. This is of great concern to officials in the United States. The researchers in the study, identified that, “5,400 young people under 16 start drinking every day” (“Underage Drinking in the United States: A Status Report” 4). Researchers also pointed out that 86.9% of the 4.4 million new drinkers in the nation were under 21 years of age in 2004 (“Underage Drinking in the United States: A Status Report” 4#). There was a steady growth in the number of underage drinkers, and “the average age of 12- to 20-year-olds in 2004 who started drinking in 2003 was 15.4. The average age of 12- to 17-year-olds in 2004 who started drinking in 2003 was 14.4” (“Underage Drinking in the United States: A Status Report” 4). The researchers also showed that even though young people drink less frequently than adults, the consumption rate is higher among the underage people. There needs to be a thorough understanding of the various underlying contributing factors to underage drinking. These factors include American social life norms, social pressure, and movie and television culture. Drinking has become part of the American social life; subsequently, teenagers and adolescents find it easy to get access to alcohol at home and in various peer groups and social gatherings. Very often, this American way of adult social life encourages young people to undertake similar lifestyles without any external control. Thus, it can be concluded that the American social life presents “drinking in a positive light, and most of them show alcohol as a normal part of adult and teen social life. Warnings against underage drinking from parents or in health class may well be overwhelmed by the barrage of daily messages about alcohol in daily life” (“Understanding Youth Drinking” 70). Researchers have also pointed out that movies influence the drinking trends of adolescents in the nation. Another factor that accelerated the use of alcohol among the underage population in the United States is the easy accessibility and affordability of alcohol and other intoxicating drinks. Most of the alcohol users from ages 12 to 20 do not pay for alcohol; they easily get free alcohol from other people. It is estimated that: nearly one third of current alcohol users aged 12 to 20 (30.6%) paid for the last alcohol they used, more than one in four (26.4%) got it for free from a non-relative aged 21 or older, 14.6% got it for free from another underage person, 5.9% got it from a parent or guardian, and 8.5% got it from another relative aged 21 or older (“Underage Alcohol Use: Where Do Young People Get Alcohol?”.2). While many think that this pattern of free alcohol consumptions occurs most often in underage boys, the facts are that underage girls are not spared from this pattern of free alcohol consumption. Even though according to federal legislation, children under 21 are prohibited from consuming alcohol, this legislation does not pose any real hindrance to the underage population in obtaining alcohol or consuming it. Researchers have shown that underage females are more likely to be offered free drinks compared to males: more than three fourths of female underage drinkers (76.4%) obtained their last alcohol for free compared with 63.2% of males. Female underage drinkers were more likely than their male counterparts to have gotten the last alcohol they used for free from a non-relative of legal drinking age (31.0% vs. 22.1%) (“Underage Alcohol Use: Where Do Young Get Alcohol?” 2). Researchers have proved that many female teenagers fall prey to abuse because of their drinking habit. The report on underage drinking in the United States by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University found that “teenage girls who binge drink are up to 63% more likely to become teen mothers” (5). In 2001, “8% or an estimated 400,000 full-time college students ages 18 to 24 in the United States had unprotected sexual intercourse as a result of drinking” (“Underage Drinking in the United States: A Report” 5). Cindy Stewart and Thomas G. Power make it clear that it is not that easy to categorize or identify underage drinking because “individuals vary considerably in their physiological and behavioral responses to alcohol” and because alcohol consumption can or cannot be dangerous depending on the “degree of adult monitoring and approval, the social functions of drinking and the degree to which consumption needs to be concealed” (#). According to the authors, only “those drinking patterns associated with more drinking consequences, reasons and antisocial behavior and with lower self-esteem would be, potentially, more problematic patterns” (#). Thus, very often only the problematic behavioral patterns are taken into account by the parents and the community, and this provides the children sufficient opportunity to get initiated into drinking without parental monitoring or control. Lening Zhang, John W. Welte, and William F. Wieczorek believe there is a close connection between parental drinking and adolescent drinking. According to the authors, “parental drinking behavior serves as a role model for adolescent drinking behavior” (#), and “adolescents who have a close attachment to their parents are more likely to imitate their parents drinking behavior” (#). Therefore, given this factor of familial ties in the prevention of underage drinking, it is understandable that many adolescents tend to start drinking as a result of family disintegration and the breakdown in family relations. It seems obvious that growing divorce rates and the increasing number of single parents and shave been instrumental in the spread of adolescent drinking. The consequences of alcohol use in the lives of adolescents can take many forms. They can vary from: acute and immediate outcomes of a single episode of alcohol-impaired functioning, such as accidental death and injury, or they can be the accumulated and diverse effects of a chronic pattern of drinking, such as poor school performance and fractured relationships secondary to alcohol abuse and addiction (“Consequences of Underage Drinking” 58). Youth who are drinkers tend to deviate from their academic studies and prove to be poor decision makers when it comes to crucial things in life. Not only does underage drinking have a human cost in death, lives ruined and productivity, there is a monetary cost. There is large amount of funding required for alcohol-related health problems and other behavioral and mental disorders. Underage children who start using alcohol at an early age become alcoholics, causing serious health care problems for them. In 2005, underage drinkers consumed 15% of total the alcohol consumed which amounted to $19.8 billion in sales (“Underage Drinking in the United States The Facts” 2 ). That same year, officials in the United States had to spend $60.3 billion for underage drinking costs, such as “medical care, work loss, and pain and suffering associated with the multiple problems resulting from the use of alcohol by youth” (“Underage Drinking in the United States The Facts” 1). Thus, as the alcohol consumption rate of the adolescent population increases, healthcare costs will increase as well. There have been many efforts by officials of the federal government to address the issue of underage drinking. Many avenues to address the issue can be used. The method of using the mass media as a deterrent on underage drinking, and effective community intervention is a necessary prerequisite to reduce the rate of alcohol consumption among the underage population. While Brian S. Flynn et al. make it clear that alcohol advertising that spreads commercial messages in support of alcohol usage is detrimental to the underage population (#), the authors also believe that effective propaganda against alcohol use can bring about better results for its reduction. According to these authors, a carefully planned mass media intervention that is amply supported by strong community interventions is the only solution to lower the rate of alcohol consumption by underage groups (#). Even though the mass media lacks: the direct social contact strength of community programs, the mass media can reach large proportions (checked against the source. The right word is used)of the population with tested, standardized messages targeted to separate audience segments. It is likely that an optimal mix of alcohol prevention interventions would include relatively high intensities of coordinated community and mass media components (Flynn, et al. #). On the other hand, Linda L. Caldwell and Nancy Darling contend that a warm relationship and value sharing between parents and adolescents can keep children away from drinking and other anti-social behavior patterns. To quote the authors’ own words, “adolescents who experienced greater warmth and control from their parents and whose parents had greater knowledge of their activities were more likely to internalize parental values and to have the qualities (e.g., orientation towards school and away from deviance) that allowed them to select and be selected into friendship groups supportive of adult values” (Caldwell and Darling #). Above all, there should be necessary changes in legislation so that the external factors that are accelerating underage drinking are brought under control. Thus, it can rightly be concluded that only a collaborative effort on the part of the government, the community, parents, and members of the media can bring about the reduction of underage drinking in the United States. Unless strong preventive measures are developed and enforced to reverse underage drinking, the youth of this nation could be destroying themselves, their futures, and the nation as a whole. Works Cited Caldwell, Linda L., and Nancy Darling. “Leisure Context, Parental Control, and Resistance to Peer Pressure as Predictors of Adolescent Partying and Substance Use: An Ecological Perspective.” Journal of Leisure Research 31.1. (19991. “Consequences of Underage Drinking.” Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. 2008. DBASSE. National Academy of Sciences. 25 Nov. 2008 Flynn, Brian S., et al. “Mass Media and Community Interventions to Reduce Alcohol Use by Early Adolescents.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol 67.1. (20061. Stewart, Cindy, and Thomas G. Power. “Identifying Patterns of Adolescent Drinking: A Tri-Ethnic Study.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol 63.2. (20021. Underage Alcohol Use: Where Do Young People Get Alcohol? Nov. 20, 2008. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report. 25 Nov. 2008 Underage Drinking in the United States: A Status Report, 2005. Mar. 2006. The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University. 25 Nov. 2008 Underage Drinking in the United States: The Facts. The International Institute for Alcohol Awareness. 25 Nov. 2008 “Understanding Youth Drinking.” Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. 2008. DBASSE. National Academy of Sciences. 25 Nov. 2008 Zhang, Lening, John W. Welte, and William F. Wieczorek. “The Influence of Parental Drinking and Closeness on Adolescent Drinking”. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 60.2. (1999). Read More