Introduction
Underage drinking occurs when anyone under the legal age of 21 has begun to drink. Alcohol drinking has become a vast problem among teens in the United States (Masten, Faden, Robert, Zucker, & Spear, 2009). The consumption of alcohol drinking among teens declined in the middle of the 1970’s but in 1993 it began to increase again. (Masten et al., 2009). By the age of 15, there has been at least one out of five who have tried alcohol and they have become heavy drinkers by the age of 18 (O’Connell, 2005). By the time teens are in 12th grade, there are at over three-quarters of those students reported have tried alcohol and at least three-fifths have reported being drunk once (Brown, et al., 2009). Children who begin drinking in high school continue to drink once they have completed high school (Brown, et al., 2009). Drinking alcohol by teens is risky not only because of the risks that can cause acute impairment, but also it can develop long-term development and well-being (O’connell, 2005). The long-term effect of underage drinker can effect teen’s developmental issues and cause health issues.
Literature Review
Developmental Issues
Development is a term that has many definitions, but for this particular section it is referred to pattern of changes that happens in a specific order and it develops of the lifetime of a person as they go from the different stages in their life cycles. People continue to change throughout their life, but the most important changes occur during childhood and adolescence. When teens drink during this time of their life, it can affect their developmental process (Brown et al., 2009).
The early use of alcohol drinking in teens can cause brain damages since this is a time when...
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...ffects that could occur.
I think the community need to develop effective programs to help prevent alcohol use among young adolescents. I think children need to be encouraged to do more extracurricular activities. If there is not interested in nothing at school, than the community should be able to have something offered to the children to keep them busy and not be idle.
All things cannot fall on the community, so the family has to become more involve in their children life. They need to build better relationships with them and be better role models. Make sure the children understand the do’s and the don’ts in their rulemaking decisions. Parents need to be aware of what their children doing by monitoring them more closely.
It is a joint effort to try and protect our children from underage drinking. Everyone need to join in together and make it happen.
Residents of the town of Longmeadow are very aware that “Longmeadow teens are outperforming teens nationwide” in their consumption of alcohol. Committees have been formed within the community to eliminate the under-aged drinking problem. Many students interviewed at Longmeadow high school say that once they have adapted to a “party lifestyle”, or a lifestyle when one drinks every weekend or more, a breathalyzer is not going to end that habit. A school dance could be a fun place to meet with friends to socialize, hang out and dace, but many people feel that they cannot enjoy themselves as much with out drinking. One LHS student says “ I’d have more fun at a house party drinking that I would at an alcohol-free school function.” This idea may not be morally or legally correct, but it keeps many students from attending school dances. This is where the problem with the breathalyzer begins. Kids who want to drink will go to unsupervised environments rather than to a place where there are adults who could handle a serious situation should one ever occur. It is not legal for kids to drink because they are not capable of dealing with serious situations. The problem of stopping kids from drinking in Longmeadow is much too large for anyone to deal with, but drunken kids should have a safe place to go where they can be watched over.
According to Center for Disease Control and Protection, about 4,700 people under age twenty one die from injuries involving underage drinking every year. Illegal alcohol consumption has been a major problem with high school students around the nation. Lowering the drinking age from twenty one would result in major consequences for America’s adolescents. By lowering the drinking age, alcohol would be more accessible to those who choose to participate in underage drinking. The desire to drink for teens and young adults between the ages of fourteen and twenty can be caused by peer pressure or an act of rebellion. One beer might not seem like a big deal at the time, but it could lead to a life of addiction and alcoholism.
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?"
According to Andrew Herman, “Each year, 14,000 die from drinking too much. 600,000 are victims of alcohol related physical assault and 17,000 are a result of drunken driving deaths, many being innocent bystanders” (470). These massive numbers bring about an important realization: alcohol is a huge issue in America today. Although the problem is evident in Americans of all ages, the biggest issue is present in young adults and teens. In fact, teens begin to feel the effects of alcohol twice as fast as adults and are more likely to participate in “binge-drinking” (Sullivan 473). The problem is evident, but the solution may be simple. Although opponents argue lowering the drinking age could make alcohol available to some teens not mature enough to handle it, lowering the drinking age actually teaches responsibility and safety in young adults, maintains consistency in age laws, and diminishes temptation.
There has been an ongoing controversy in the United States on whether the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen like most of the world or if it should stay at twenty-one. Underage drinking has been a major controversial issue for years, yet why is it not under control? Teenagers are continuing to buy alcohol with fake identification cards, drink, get into bars, and drink illegally. As a teen I have proof that these things are going on not only in college but in high school as well. There are a lot of factors that come together to why the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen; the most obvious reason is too many people are drinking before they are twenty-one. Liquor stores, bars, and clubs all want to make money and if they can get away with selling to underage teens then they will. A study done by the Academic Search Premier agrees that, ?By now it is obvious that the law has not succeeded in preventing the under-21 group from drinking? (Michael Smith 1).
There are numerous problems involving alcohol in the world today, including alcoholism, drunk driving, and alcohol poisoning leading to death. Many of these problems involve minors and are linked to drinking underage. The legal drinking age in many states is twenty-one years old. The purpose of this law is to keep minors out of danger: away from drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and injuring the brain before it is fully developed. The government supports the belief that people are not ready or responsible enough for alcohol until this age. However, various professors and researchers are discovering ways to disprove this belief. These people think that reducing the drinking age to eighteen would influence our country in a positive way. Not only do minors support this idea, but there are numerous people and organizations that support the idea of lowering the drinking age as well. The current drinking law is counterproductive in our society because it’s not effective in eliminating underage drinking, and leads to unsafe situations such as drunk driving and alcohol poison instigated deaths. This problem could be solved by lowering the minimum drinking age to eighteen, with a drinking license.
Should the Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21 be lowered to the age of 18? After the legal voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1971, 30 US states ended up lowering their MLDA to 18, 19, or 20. When the states started implementing the Minimum Legal Drinking Age, they saved approximately 20,000 lives. They also decreased the number of alcohol-related youth fatalities among drivers by 63 percent since 1982. By 1982, only 14 US states had the MLDA of 21. In 1984, all of the states that have recently lowered their MLDA from 21 have all raised their MLDA back to 21. In 47 of 50 states age 18 is the “age of majority”, but the Minimum Legal Drinking Age is still at the age of 21. The minimum legal drinking age should stay at the age of 21 and not be lowered to 18 because of the medical reasons behind it, and could help prevent traffic accidents from happening.
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.
Overuse of alcohol is becoming a large problem across the United States of America. Drinking is always considered a problem if it is not being done responsibly or in moderation. Teenagers that choose to drink illegally usually drink as much as they can hold; in result, parts of their memory can disappear. Teenagers do not drink in moderation; as a result, they drink much more than they can handle just to be “cool” in front of their friends. Drinking can be a problem in all ages, but the most problems arise in the younger generation. Teenagers drinking are not only harming themselves but also the surrounding lives. Lowering the drinking age would cause a significant increase in school drop-outs and even deaths. Teenagers do not think about how
The article “Teens Drinking and Driving” (2012) recognizes that drinking and driving among adolescents in high school had declined by 54% since 1991. Although there has been a decline, high school teens continue to drink and drive 2.4 million times a month. Almost one million high school adolescents reported drinking and driving in 2011. The article “Teens Drinking and Driving” also states, “85% of teens in high school report drinking and driving in the past month also say they binge drank” (2012). Binge drinking is consuming five or more alcoholic beverages within a certain time frame, which can lead to drunk driving and other risky behavior. “Teens Drinking and Driving” (2012) also reports that one in five adolescents that drive under the influence are involved in deadly crashes with alcohol in their body. No matter what the circumstances are adolescents continue to drink and drive. There are solutions that can help decrease the ever occurring dangers of drunk
A lot of the time, teens think it is ‘cool’ to drink because everyone else does it. Almost every television show that young people watch have some underage substance abuse, leading adolescents to believe that it can’t be that bad. While society plays a big part in this huge problem, both teens and parents need to learn that there can be severe consequences from as little as one drink. Allowing them to think this kind of behavior is acceptable will haunt them for the rest of their lives, even if they are not alcohol related. Believing that such behavior is acceptable now will lead them to bad decision-making skills in the future when faced with an ethical decision. Teens need to know the major effects can come from underage drinking before going to that party or when being pressured into something they may not be willing to participate in. It is obvious that the long and short-term effects of alcohol abuse can be easily avoided by getting educated and thinking before engaging in any self-destructive
Smith, Karen. “Alcohol Use by youth and Adolescents: A Pediatric Concern.” Pediatric American Academy of Pediatrics. 12 April, 2010. Web. 26 March, 2014. .
Young people grow up seeing their parents and other adults make toast of wine and champagne at special occasions, as well as casually enjoying a few beers at a picnic. Today alcoholic beverages are frequently as common at business lunches as they are at college frat parties. Underage drinking is a huge problem which everyone must face. Underage drinking not only has devastating effects on those who drink but also on our society. "Young people illegally consume almost 3.6 billion drinks annually which is 10 million drinks each day."
Alcohol is, unfortunately, one of the most easily obtainable and most dangerous substances on the market. Although the legal purchasing and consuming age for alcoholic products is twenty-one, that does not stop younger people from abusing it. Not only is this illegal, but also quite dangerous. A common misconception about alcohol for children is that the legal, mental, and physical consequences of using alcohol “end” once a person becomes of the legal drinking age. The truth of the matter is that the dangers of alcohol consumption extend far beyond the age of twenty-one and into adulthood. Alcohol can have devastating effects for people of all ages. “Alcohol causes the most severe and widespread adverse health consequences of all drugs of abuse, affecting virtually every organ system. Fortunately, many of these require many years of drinking so they are not commonly found in adolescents” (Milhorn). Not only can alcohol destroy the life of the consumer, but can ...
As a result of underage drinking, 5,000 adolescents under the age of 21 die annually due to intoxication (taking motor vehicle crashes, homicides, suicides, and other injuries while intoxicated into consideration) (paragraph 2). Later in life, underage drinkers are more likely to develop alcoholism, poor performance in school, and risky sexual behavior (paragraph 43). Although this research is not opposed to my argument, there is an importance to acknowledging it as proof of dangerous, underage drinking occurring significantly regardless of whether it is illegal. More importantly, this research stems from adolescents drinking without the supervision of adults and in uncontrolled quantities. Since adolescents must wait a long period of time to drink legally, I believe they fear they must take advantage of drinking opportunities by excess drinking and risk of safety due to their restriction to alcohol. Based on this mindset, I believe exposure to alcohol at a younger age in controlled environments would not only decrease underage drinking in large quantities, but injury and death related to intoxication, as