Teen Alcohol Abuse: A Complex Problem

October 21st, 2009 by author

Recent alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among adolescents is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Numerous substance abuse authorities affirm that liquor, wine, and beer ads brought into being by the media are a primary reason for the proliferation of teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcohol dependency specialists believe that the increase in adolescent alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and accessibility of wine,liquor, and beer in our society.

Still other alcohol abuse professionals argue that many of our teens involve themselves in destructive drinking due to the increased anxiety that they go through.

From a somewhat different viewpoint, since both parents in quite a few families work, the lack of parental supervision positively has to play a major role in the spread of teenage alcohol abuse. And lastly, diverse alcohol abuse specialists affirm that the spread of teenage alcohol abuse is due, in some measure, to our permissive society.

Excessive Drinking and Coping Skills Education

One facet of adolescent alcohol abuse that appears to be poorly reported in the alcohol dependency research literature, then again, is the lack of educational programs that teach teenagers how to further develop their coping skills so that their dangerous drinking behavior is extensively decreased or eliminated.

Stated more explicitly, science has revealed that there is an indirect link between poor coping skills and abusive drinking. Fundamentally, this means that the poorer the coping skills, the higher the incidence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is an accurate argument, why isnâ€™t coping skills instruction a key part of the academic prospectus in all of our high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools?

A Society That Highlights Teenage Coping Skills

Let us manufacture a scenario for illustrative purposes. Let us imagine a society in which students are taught how to achieve high-quality coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their final year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets demanding, individuals who are â€œcoping skills mastersâ€ will be able to respond in a more healthy and more successful way, contrary to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to execute their coping skills.

More precisely, students who exhibit first rate coping skills will be more able to think proactively and engage in superior decision making as opposed to adolescents who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement good coping skills, resort to the â€œquick fixâ€ of excessive drinking.

What would happen in the above â€œidealâ€ society, furthermore, if students not only got extraordinary coping skills training but also received an exclusive education that focused on the short term and long term harmful results associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Such an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills instruction, it is proclaimed, would help teenagers stay away from the apparent charm related to youth drinking and, consequently, would radically decrease the harmful drinking behavior shown by the youth in our country.

Youth Hazardous Drinking: Conclusion

There are without a doubt more than a few well thought-out reasons why so many of our teens drink in a harmful manner. Such a knotty subject matter demands a thorough and more pertinent preventative and educational response by our parents, politicians, students, and educators so that our teenagers can learn how to cope with lifeâ€™s predicaments in a more fruitful and responsible manner instead of gravitating to injurious drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.