Adolescent Alcohol Abuse:
What Factors are Present?
Over the years, many researchers have dedicated their time and energy to study adolescent alcohol abuse. They have found that there are many factors that contribute to adolescent alcohol abuse. These factors are psychological, environmental, social, and cultural. Not all of these factors play a part in every adolescent who abuses alcohol, but one of these factors is usually present. Psychological disorders have been found in both American, and Taiwan adolescents who abuse alcohol. The health risks of adolescent alcohol abuse are great. Alcohol affects the physiology of a young person. It disrupts the genetics and hormonal balances that are critical in the early development of youngsters. Treatment of alcohol abuse is a great state of change and development. Many therapists, doctors and counselors are trying to incorporate new treatment ideas and methods into the traditional techniques that have been used for years now.
It is important to research the factors that contribute to adolescent alcohol abuse because if these factors are detected early, and an adolescent is put into a prevention program the likelihood that they will abuse alcohol will greatly decrease.
Psychological Factors
According to the research, there have been many psychological problems found in adolescents who abuse alcohol. The majority of the research has been done in order to solve the question of whether or not these psychological factors are present before an adolescent abuses alcohol, or after the alcohol abuse has occurred. In the research done by Rhode, Lewinsohn, and Seeley (1996), they used a community sample of 1,507 adolescents between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. The adolescents were classified into the categories of abstainers, experimenters, social drinkers, problem drinkers, and abuse and/or dependent groups.
In this study, 373 subjects met the criteria for depression, 15 were bipolar, 93 suffered from manic core symptoms, and 124 had an anxiety disorder (Rhode et al., 1996). Furthermore, anxiety disorder and depression were psychological disorders that were more prevalent in female adolescents with alcohol abuse than their male counterparts. Males who abused alcohol tended to suffer from antiso...
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Epstein, J., Botvin, G., & Diaz, T. (1999). Impact of social influences and problem behavior on alcohol use among inner- city hispanic and black adolescents. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 60 (5), 595-604.
Rhode, P., Lewinsohn, P., & Seeley, J.R. (1996). Psychiatric comoribidity with problematic alcohol use in high school students. Journal of the American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry 35 (1), 101-109.
Adolescent Alcohol Abuse
Juvenile Delinquency
Teenage drinking is something that goes on every day. No matter how many videos you show to kids about drinking they will still drink. Surveys show that the average teen seventeen and up spends $475.00 a year on liquor, mostly beer; that's more than books, soda, coffee, juice and milk combined. Most parents don't know about teenage drinking unless they catch their kids doing it. Parents usually say "oh, my my kid would never do that ", and they're the ones whose kids probably drink more that the average teen. One might ask, how do kids get alcohol? Alcohol is almost as easy to get as a carton of milk, except a teen has to get someone older like a friend, brother or even someone off of the street to purchase it. Another way underage teens get alcohol is a fake I.D. A lot of stores don't care, they just need to ask for an I.D. because they are being watched by security cameras. No matter what city your are in, one in every five stores will sell beer to a minor. If stores stop selling to minors they would lose a lot of business. Looking at the surveys I took at Lincoln on this topic it can been seen what teens think about teenage drinking. The results were shocking! The first Question I asked was "Have you ever drank alcohol?" Of the students surveyed, 16% said no and 84% said yes. The second question was, "How often do you drink?"
Lily, Henrietta M. and Harmon, Daniel E. Alcohol Abuse and Binge Drinking. New York: the Rosen Publishing Group Inc., 2012. Print.
There are an estimated 3.3 million teen-age alcoholics in the United States. Adolescents who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin drinking at age 21. Youth who drink alcohol are five times more likely to smoke cigarettes, four times more likely to smoke marijuana, and three times more likely to use an illicit drug. Teens that use alcohol tend to become sexually active at earlier ages. Teens who use alcohol are more likely to be victims of violent crimes such as aggravated assault, robbery or rape.
As illustrated the model of drug abuse and the theories behind addiction are varied. There is no concrete reason for one person who drinks to become alcohol dependent versus the person who does not. Several factors contribute to why a person begins drinking and why they continue to do so despite reasons to stop. The case history exhibits a client with many risk factors associated with alcohol use and dependence.
There is a distinct difference between controlled and learned theories. Controlled theories emphasize on how individuals are born selfish, such as the strain theory and techniques of neutralization.
The article “Adolescent Brain Development and Underage Drinking in the United States: Identifying Risks of Alcohol Use in College Populations” written by Marisa Silveri, PhD, aims to emphasize the the negative behavioral consequences with underage alcohol use. Silveri is a highly decorated professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who has been studying the neurobiology of brain development and consequences of alcohol and drug abuse using preclinical and clinical models for two decades. Her substantial background in psychology and neurobiology make her a highly credible source, and improves the author’s chance of making the point really stick. The article is easy to follow, and split up in subcategories that each cover a specific point the author is trying to make. Professor Silveri, with great credibility, uses logic and also emotional appeal to effectively convince the reader that alcohol use affects the brain negatively, and the importance to discourage the excessive consumption of alcohol by adolescents.
Today, one out of every thirteen adults abuse alcohol or are alcoholics. That means nearly thirteen million Americans have a drinking problem. (www.niaaa.nih.gov) This topic offers a broad range of ideas to be researched within the psychological field. For this particular project, the topic of alcoholism and the psychological effects on people best fit the criteria. Alcoholism is defined as a disorder characterized by the excessive consumption of and dependence on alcoholic beverages, leading to physical and psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning. (www.dictionary.com) Through this project, the most important information regarding personal experiences dealing with alcoholism will be revealed. Not only are statistics, like the facts mentioned before, important when dealing with an issue such as alcoholism, but personal accounts and information are often more powerful and influential evidence. Non-alcoholics should be allowed to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for research purposes.
Strine, T. W., Dube, S. R., Edwards, V. J., Prehn, A. W., Rasmussen, S., Wagenfield, M., … Croft, J., (2012) Associations between adverse childhood experiences, psychological distress, and adult alcohol problems. American Journal of Health Behavior, 36(3), 408-423. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.36.3.11
Earls, F., Reich, W., Jung, K. G., & Cloninger, C. R. (2006). Psychopathology in children of alcoholic and antisocial parents. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 12(4), 481 - 487.
The ingestion of alcoholic beverages for their enjoyable effects is a custom which has been around for thousands of years, and alcohol continues to be a popular drug because of its short-term effects (Coleman, Butcher & Carson, 1984). An enormous amount of damage can be attributed directly to alcohol abuse as a result of lost jobs, accidents caused by drunk drivers, and so forth (Maltzman, 2000). Alcohol also compounds other problems--an estimated 25% to 40% of hospital patients have problems caused by, or recovery delayed by alcohol abuse (Maltzman, 2000). Clinical psychologists spend about one-fourth of their time dealing with people who are suffering in part from alcohol or other substance problems (Vaillant, 1995). Although alcohol problems have been around for so long, it is only recently that these problems have begun to be associated with medical or psychological difficulties.
Smith, Karen. “Alcohol Use by youth and Adolescents: A Pediatric Concern.” Pediatric American Academy of Pediatrics. 12 April, 2010. Web. 26 March, 2014. .
Strine, T., Dube, S., Dube, V., Witt Prahn, A., Rasmussen, S., Wagenfeld, M., Croft, J. (2012). Associations between adverse childhood experiences, psychological distress, and adult alcohol problems. American Journal of Health Behavior, 36(3), 408-423. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=43&sid=54392cc5-0150-4def-89f7-b43309bb775f%40sessionmgr198&hid=114&bdata=JmxvZ2luLmFzcCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=72384112
Alcohol is the premier drug choice among many youths. A national survey found that slightly more than half of young adults in the United States between the ages of 12 and 20 have consumed alcohol at least once. A psychoactive drug that depresses the central nervous system, alcohol, like tobacco, affects both the mind and the body. It lowers the brain’s ability to control behavioral functions and impairs one’s ability to perform basic motor skills. In today’s society, it is not a surprise for young teens to consume alcohol before they have reached the legal drinking age of twenty-one. Due to this, it has become a leading health problem in the United States. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, about 4,358 people
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