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An average of one teen dies each hour in a car crash in the United States, and nearly 50 percent of those crashes involve alcohol, according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHSTA). Alcohol is the drug most widely abused by teens. Alcohol abuse occurs among all geographic, ethnic and racial groups. Teens easily succumb to peer pressure when deciding whether or not to use alcohol. Unfortunately, they lack the coping and judgment skills necessary to handle alcohol wisely. 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. The use of alcohol by adolescen...
Drunk driving accidents are the number one killer of adolescents (Teenagers and peer pressures. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). Mixing drinking while driving can be deadly. Teenage drunk driving accidents not only affect the person drinking while driving, but it also can kill or harm others (Alcohol problems and solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from) (Teen drinking and driving. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from) . Every single accident provoked by drinking and driving could have been prevented. If underage drinking is illegal, why do young people do it ? Teenagers usually are influenced by their elders (Alcohol problems and solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). In the United States, one out of ten 12 through 14 year olds have tried alcohol and continue to do so on a regular basis . There is a more than fifty percent of probability that young adults that have tried alcohol at a younger age may become alcoholics in the near future (Alcohol fatalities. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). So, why do teenagers take so many risks with their health and behind the wheel? The answer is simple teen drivers tend to think they are invincible and more needs to be done to educate teens on the dangers of drinking and driving.
Each year, about 5,000 teens are killed or injured in traffic crashes as a result of underage drinking and about 1,900 are due to car accidents. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation) In the newsletter, safety in numbers by National highway traffic administration and U.S department of transportation “Of all the people who died in motor vehicle crashes during 2012, 31 percent died in crashes involving a drunk driver, and this percentage remains unchanged for the past 10 years” (Vol 1, 2013). Crashes involving alcohol include fatal crashes in which a driver had a BAC of .01 g/ ld. or higher (Underage Drinking Statistics)). Deadly crashes involving alcohol are twice as common in teens compared to people 21 and older. This is because teens’ judgment skills are harmed more by alcohol. Teens who drink not only risk hurting themselves, they risk hurting their friends, family, and even strangers when driving intoxicated. Teens and parents both need a strong reminder that underage drinking is illegal and can have disastrous consequences. According to Health Day News, “one study found that in 2011, 36 percent of U.S. college students said they'd gone binge drinking (five or more drinks in one sitting) within the past two weeks, as compared to 43 percent of college students in 1988. Since 2006, the current law has reduced the rate of drunk driving crashes among young Americans” (Preidt, 2014 and DeJong, 2014). This proves that lives have been saved after the legal drinking age increased. According to an article in Time Magazine called “Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered?”, “lowering the drinking age to 18 would stop infantilizing college students, but it would probably kill mor...
According to Men’s Health, “alcohol kills more teenagers and young people than any of the other drugs taken to affect mood and behavior (heroin, cocaine, marijuana).” This issue interests me due to the many friends I have who drink overwhelmingly. Also, I have so many cousins that are younger than me that I am concerned about with this issue. There are many reasons to why teens may drink, not all of which are reasonable but is the truth, from what I know. Teen drinking can also result in very many mishaps that are mostly a terrible consequence.
Wechsler, Henry, and Toben F. Nelson. "Percentage of alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities among young adults aged 16 to 24 years, by age group: United States, 1982-2007". Graph. American Journal of Public Health 100.6 (2010): 986-992. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.
By the eighth grade, 29.5 percent of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 15.5 percent have smoked cigarettes, and 15 percent have used marijuana (11 Facts About Teens and Drug Use). Substance abuse by young adults using illegal or prescription drugs and alcohol can result in a loss of interest in education, serious emotional problems and chemical dependency.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and about one-third of those are alcohol related. Don’t be that person that lets a drunken driver on the streets; be the difference.
Underage drinking results in more than 4,300 deaths each year, and injuries requiring 189,000 emergency department visits. Such drinking is correlated with school problems, social difficulties, and unwanted and unprotected sexual activity.
According to Windle et al. (2009) adolescents between the ages of 10 and 15 are beginning to consume alcohol. Adolescents are going through puberty at this stage. This means that they are experiencing greater emotional mood swings, greater emotions when dealing with emotional events, and tend to break more rules and exhibit rule breaking behaviors (Windle, et al., 2009). 19.5 percent of 8th graders and 42.1 percent of 10th graders reported having been drunk in their lifetime (Windle, et al., 2009). It is said that the adolescents that consistently drink through this period of time are more likely to have a harder time transitioning into adulthood (Zhong, et al., 2010).
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.
11% of alcohol in the United States is consumed by people from age 12 to 20. Alcohol consumption is very prevalent among high schoolers. 72% of high school students will have had alcohol by the end of high school. Binge drinking is the most common form of alcohol consumption among underage drinkers. 90% of alcohol consumed by people under the age of 21 is consumed by binge drinking. 51% of binge drinkers are 18-20 years old. Some teens that consume alcohol pay for it and others don’t. 30.8% of teens paid for alcohol the last time they drank. 8.3% of those teens bought it themselves and 22% of the teens paid someone else to buy it for them. 37.4% of teens that did not pay for alcohol the last time they drank got it from someone who they are not related to. 21.1% of teens that did not pay for the alcohol got it from an adult relative. About 3 million teens in the United States are
The biggest problem with drunk driving by young adults is the high rate of traffic accidents. Although young drivers ages 16 through 25 makeup only 15% of U.S. licensed drivers, they constitute 30 percent of all alcohol-related driving fatalities. This is double the amount of licensed drivers in that age group. Inexperience with both drinking and driving may contribute to this disproportionate rate. Nationwide in 1996, people ages 15 to 24 died in fatal motor vehicle crashes and 45 percent of those deaths were a result of alcohol (NHTSA 4). So it comes to no surprise that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people younger than 25 (NCHS 98).
High school is normally the time when teenagers begin to dabble in the world of alcohol – to discover their limits and develop habits and this experimentation carries over into college. That is the norm and its not a bad thing, but of course there are a few exceptions. In high school I never went to a single party, was never invited to one, and barely ever even heard about them. It was something that none of my close friends were a part of and the thought of drinking never really crossed my mind. I was so busy with my school work, my job, and the cross country team that I didn’t have much spare time, and when I did I wanted to relax and hang out with my friends. My parents raised me in the faith of the Catholic Church and this background gave me a strong moral base. I always laugh and I have fun doing the simplest things so it was easy for me to find activities to be a part of besides drinking. It was only the summer after high school graduation that I began to feel peer pressured to drink and the fact that I am always sober started to make me feel a bit isolated.
Studies have been shown that underaged adolescents have successfully purchased alcohol at local liquor stores. Underage drinking as many know leads to a selection of crimes, brain damage and deaths. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, 4,358 people under age 21 die each year from alcohol-related car crashes, homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning, and other injuries such as falls, burns, and drowning. More than 190,000 people under age 21 visited an emergency room for alcohol-related injuries in 2008 alone (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, "Underage Drinking”).
Alcohol abuse in teens has become a big problem in the U.S. and because of it, that's an obstacle to not succeed in college. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been a report that youth under the age of 21 drink alcohol, therefore, the statistics show that youth ages 12 and 20 drink 11% of all alcohol ingested in the U.S. (Unknown Author) but, there are reasons youth under 21 consume this substance which these include peer pressure, increased independence, desire to do it, stress, other reasons are family problems like: parents divorced, family member sick or passed away.
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