Alcohol-Related Problems - Essay Example

ALCOHOL RELATED PROBLEMS Name: Course Professor’s name University name City, State Date of submission Alcohol Related Problems Alcoholism can pass for a social problem and it varies in magnitude from place to place. Majority of the fatal traffic accidents, child abuse incidences, arrests, fire related deaths and murders are related to alcohol in the modern day world. Statistics from the United States show that out of four families sampled, one is actually troubled by alcohol. An average of 10 million Americans is alcoholics and in every five, one teenager is a drinker. Alcohol comes in after cancer and heart disease as a major killer. Many would like to view alcoholism as a disease. This is so because of the billions of money that go into insurance and treating of the alcohol victims. While viewing it as a disease, we get to see that it interferes with the economic functions, social functions and health of the individual. This disease is supported by various factors. Some of theses ideas include its predictability and progressive nature thus being able to convince many insurance firms and phycisians.the individuals are equally expected to experience less condemnation if the insurance companies get to finance the treatment. Counseling Alcohol Related Problems by Charles Dailey The severerity of alcohol related problems varies from one individual to another. Especially when it comes to physical problems. This will primarily depend on the physical state of the individual. The quantity of the alcohol taken plus the frequency of intake is also a factor. For someone who is weak and takes a lot of alcohol within a short duration then the repucursions will be far more magnified than for someone who is a bit stronger. Alcohol is considered to be toxic that has the potential to affect most cells of the body. The cell of the brain are not spared either. The functioning of the brain is temporarily interfered with. In most of the cases, the individual loses balance and the emotional responses are under the influence of alcohol. For individuals who happen to be heavy drinkers, the situation is much worse because it has adverse effects on the cells of the liver. Alcohol destroys the cells of the liver leaving it non functional. The organ is not able to process food nutrients as efficiently as it should. Counseling Alcohol Related Problems by Charles Dailey It has been known for years now that excessive drinking of alcohol can lead to several problems that are alcohol related or sometimes personal. This will mostly depend on the amount consumed and the rate at which it is taken. The consequences that will follow then can range from a minor headache to a multitude of things such as fatal traffic accidents, poisoning or sometimes death. Excessive consumption result in problems related to coordination of the body and blurry vision. Intoxication is also a consequence of very high amounts of alcohol. Intoxication on the other hand normally leads people to do things that ignore social, religious and moral norms. Things that they would otherwise not do when they are sober. This phenomenon is mainly attributed to the lowering of the person’s inhibitors thus he/she does things not out of their own free will but through the influence of alcohol. Counseling Alcohol Related Problems by Charles Dailey (Levete, 2007, pp85). Alcoholism develops in five stages: accessing alcohol instead of using alcohol; regular use of alcohol; developing new habits to validate the newly acquired habit; negative consequences on their social, vocational and academic life and lastly, viewing preoccupation with alcohol as normal. The adolescence is an age that is characterized by changes in social relationships and autonomy. Many of the adults in this age are building their characters, although they do this, while trying to find a balance between the increased opportunities, changes in family ties, increasing number of social networks and discovering oneself. The reason why young people find themselves caught up in alcoholism is because they associate more with the “fun” in drinking than the consequences, associated with it (Goldberg, Felsher & Millstein, 2002). Social influence is the concept, through which people are coerced by others into doing an action. The manner, in which parents use alcohol, has an indirect and a direct effect on alcohol outcome expectancies (AOE’s). Research has shown that alcohol outcome and expectancies are formed before individuals begin consuming alcohol. Alcohol abuse among adolescents has hindered their development and wellbeing of millions of young adolescents. The peer group is a group of people with the same interests, social positions and age in common. In this peer setting, young adults are able to interact with each other without the supervision of adults. Peer influence is in two forms: in the form of invitations to drink and by aping the norms that the peer considers as acceptable. Mostly affected by peer influence are people who join high school, college or the work place and follow this behavior as an effort to fit in (Streissguth, 1997, pp123). Social influence is characterized by conformity, obedience and compliance; however, for the purposes of this study, the conformity should be considered as it applies best to this study. Normative conformity is the type of conformity that afflicts most teenagers. Teenagers are likely to join these groups in an effort to fit and avoid turning into social outcasts. Teenagers may also seek to join confirmative groups to seek guidance. Adolescents undergo many changes in this stage as well as confusion on their identity; therefore, they are likely to join these groups to seek advice. This results in teenagers adopting the ideals of the group as their own. Many studies have shown that there is a higher correlation between juvenile delinquency, unwanted pregnancies and alcohol use (Hawkins, Catalano & Miller, 1992). According to a survey by the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NERSAC), two-thirds of young adults, aged 18-30, are current drinkers; this is in spite of the fact that the legal drinking age is 21. Research has shown that human brains continue to thrive even in adulthood, and even though the effects vary widely from person to person, excessive consumption of alcohol may lead to impairment in later stages of adulthood. Adolescents caught up in web of alcohol abuse are less likely to engage in productive activities, this increases the burden on tax payers because the government has to come up with programs that support them (Torr, 2002, pp56). Several programs, dealing with teen alcoholism, focus on reduction and rehabilitation instead of prevention. These strategies are most effective because teen alcoholism should not be viewed as an individual problem, affecting only the individual but society as a whole (Langone, 1976, pp 71). The government can also raise taxes, which subsequently increase prices of the drug, thus, reducing consumption. However, some economist have argued that this policy will not be productive as alcohol is addictive and users of alcohol will move to consuming cheaper liquor and not attain the overall objective, which is to reduce excessive consumption of alcohol. In addition, economists argue that increase in taxes would increase the price, which would make the moderate consumers reduce the amount they consume, which reduces the number of sales (Julien, 1995, pp45) Prevention programs have often been mistaken as efforts to ensure that teenagers never use alcohol; this outcome is desirable but unattainable. Delaying the onset of alcohol use is more realistic goal than zero use of alcohol. Prevention programs should not only focus on preventing the onset of alcohol use but also preventing negative social influences on adolescents (Tobler & Stratton, 1997). The most common preventionist campaign is the “just say no campaign”. According to the Evans (1983), the “just say no campaign” is based on the social inoculation theory. It asserts that the probability of an adolescent to say no to alcohol is heavily influenced by their ability to resist peer pressure. This strategy involves equipping teenager with the skills to refuse alcohol, which is similar to the way an inoculation works. According to this theory, if a teenager is equipped with the skills to say no, then, he/she will be able to resist peer pressure. Normative education is another prevention strategy. This strategy aims to correct the illusions that teenagers have about the use of alcohol. Teenagers have misconceptions about the use of alcohol and are known to overestimate the number of people who use alcohol. Information, given to the teens on the statistics of this drinking and those abstaining, should be accurate; to avoid the situation, where teens assume the number of those abstaining to be lower than those who are drinking (Inaba, Cohen & Holstein, 1997, pp87). Numerous studies conducted on teen alcoholism; however, a knowledge gap exists on the role that social influence lays in the increasing number of teenagers, engaging in over-indulgence of alcohol (Hunt, 1982, pp89). Conclusion This paper presents a discussion on the role of social influence in teen alcoholism with a bias towards prevention. The paper is divided into four parts. Part one is the background to the problem alcoholism. It discusses the alcoholism problem in depth, while presenting prevention strategies, followed by clear discussion on how they hope to achieve their objectives. Part one also presents the significance of the study to today’s world as well as its purpose. In this section, the researcher allows for a brief glance at his personal perspective on the problem and the reasons that influenced this research. Research cannot be undertaken from a single person’s perspective; consequently, the researcher has included scholarly works of other people in part two of this study. Part two is an analysis of the works of other researchers on the topic of teen alcoholism (Carl, 2011, pp 56). Part three is an analysis of two interdisciplinary theories that explain the problem of teen alcoholism. These two theories are merged to create a new clinical-social theory that seeks to explain the problem from the perspective of two disciplines. Part four describes in detail how an actual field study was conducted in order to collect data for empirical analysis. It describes the tools of collecting data and the methodology involved (Cook, 2007, pp123). Reference List Alcoholism and related problems: issues for the American public.. (1984). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Carl, J. D. (2011). Think social problems. Boston: Pearson. Cook, P. J. (2007). Paying the tab: the cost and benefits of alcohol control. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Hunt, L. (1982). Alcohol related problems. London: Heinemann Educational Books. Inaba, D., Cohen, W. E., & Holstein, M. E. (1997). Uppers, downers, all arounders: physical and mental effects of psychoactive drugs (3rd ed.). Ashland, Or.: CNS Publications. Julien, R. M. (1995). A primer of drug action: a concise, nontechnical guide to the actions, uses, and side effects of psychoactive drugs (7th ed.). New York: W.H. Freeman. Langone, J. (1976). Bombed, buzzed, smashed, or ... sober: a book about alcohol. Boston: Little, Brown. Levete, S. (2007). Alcohol. North Mankato, MN: Stargazer Books. Streissguth, A. P. (1997). Fetal alcohol syndrome: a guide for families and communities. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pub. Torr, J. D. (2002). Teens and alcohol. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press. Read More