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The effect of substance abuse among the youth
Alcohol abuse in the youth dissertation
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Recommended: The effect of substance abuse among the youth
Binge drinking is defined as “consuming eight or more units in a single session for men and six or more for women.” (NHS, 2014). The “unit is a measure of the pure alcohol in a drink” (Department of Health, 2015), eight units of alcohol is equal to three pints of strong beer and six units of alcohol is equivalent to two large glasses of wine (Drinkaware, 2016). It might also be noted that there are somewhat different definitions of youth and young people, according to the UN Secretariat, the terms youth and young people are interchangeable to mean age 15-24, however, the WHO defined youth as between 15 and 24 years old and young people as between 10 and 24 years old (UNDESA, 2013). To conform with the WHO, this essay focuses on young people …show more content…
The safer option is to spread this evenly over 3 days or more and avoid drinking on two consecutive days. Nevertheless, there are more than 9 million people who drink over the recommended daily limits in England, also research done in 2012 shows that 43% of school pupils is aged between 11-15 said that they had drunk alcohol at least once (Alcohol Concern, 2014). In addition, more than 10,000 fines for being drunk and disorderly are issued to young people aged 16 to 19 in the UK every year (ibid). In line with the statistics of HSCIC (2015), the number of young people binge drinking aged 16-24 has been falling since 2005 which is from 29% to 18% in 2013. However, the number of alcohol-related NHS hospital admissions in England of 16 to 24 year-old males and females are 11500 and 9500 in 2013/14 respectively (ibid). This shows the problem of binge drinking is still …show more content…
The statistics previously mentioned that the number of young people who drink has decreases, it seems can be shown that the actions of changing young people’s drinking behaviour are successful. However, the Alcohol Concern (2014) estimates 7.5 million people are unaware the serious illnesses caused by drinking, for example there are 85%, 66% and 59% of people did not realise drinking increases the risk of developing breast cancer, bowel cancer and mouth, throat and neck cancer respectively (Department of Health, 2012). This indicates the effectiveness of the Change4Life campaign is limited, one of the aims of it is to inform people about the risks of binge drinking but there are still millions of people are unaware of the damage of drinking and do not recognize the risks of binge drinking. Nonetheless, the decreasing number of young people drinking shows the follow-up and care is successful, since the youth would not be drink after they receive a suitably
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.
were drinking to get drunk than their counterparts a decade earlier, and one recent study reported an increase, just since 1994, in the number of students who drink deliberately to get drunk? (Smith 1). I interviewed my friend Shelly Mitchell who recently turned twenty-one and asked her how she felt about finally being legal to drink. She quoted, ?It is not as exciting to drink anymore, I mean I still like to go out with my friends to bars, but the fun is all over, in high school and college it was so exciting trying to get alcohol by using a fake ID.? All of these factors could be changed by lowering the drinking age to eighteen. In a study done by the Harvard School of Public Health, binge drinking is defined as five drinks in a row for boys and four drinks for girls. And when they did a survey they found that 44% of the students attending Harvard binge drink (Jeffrey Kluger 1).
Although this article does show the magnitude of the problem of teenage drinking, it doers not touch many people or clarify what we can do about it and the lack of clarity is an important factor that limits its impact.
"Young People's Drinking." International Center for Alcohol Policies Meetings & News Press Releases Welcome to ICAP. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .
There are many contributing factors and political issues that address substance abuse. Throughout the years, many researchers have designed many interventions and social policies designed to treat people who have used, abused, and became addicted to substances. Today, there are many new studies that address substance abuse at the individual, group, family, and community or policy levels. Today, there are many services that are effective for decreasing recidivism in youth who have completed a substance abuse program. A substance abuse treatment program or center is the best way to treat individuals who have abused substances.
“According to the U.S Surgeon General, about 5,000 kids under 21 die every year as a result of underage drinking—from crashes, homicides, and suicides” (Bellenir 65). Reducing underage drinking can reduce drinking-related harm, and even though there are programs in place to help prevent these suicides, alcoholism continues to ruin the lives of underage drinkers. Alcoholics in general are walking billboards to major companies that advertise their products—especially underage drinkers that in the process make these companies wealthier. Alcohol abuse gives a false sense of security, self confidence, and maturity to underage drinkers that later commit crimes, violence, and are victims of homicides. Underage drinkers not being able to get back on their feet after falling in so deep into alcoholism, eventually hit rock bottom and wake up to a world they no longer belong to. Underage drinkers realizing that the turning point is far from close commit suicide.
Frey and Schonbeck explain that it is estimated that over 76 million people worldwide are affected by alcohol abuse or dependence. The chance of having an alcoholic in one’s life is very high. Children that grow up in an environment with an alcoholic may increase that child’s chance of becoming an alcoholic themselves. In the United States, the most commonly abused drug among youth is alcohol. Even though the legal drinking age is 21, nearly 20% of all alcohol consumed in the United States is by people under the legal age (83). In fact, when youth start drinking at social events in their teenage years, they are greatly increasing their risk of developing alcohol problems (85). Alcoholism can affect people of all ages. Furthermore, some experts try to differentiate between alcoholics and social drinkers. Typically, they base this off of five categories. Social drinkers do not drink alone. They consume minimal amounts of alcohol during social functions. Situational drinkers may not ever drink unless they are stressed out. These drinkers are more likely to drink by themselves. Problem drinkers can be described as a drinker that alcohol has caused problems in their life. However, they usually respond to advice given by others. Binge drinkers are out of control in their alcohol consumption. They may drink until they pass out or worse. Alcoholic drinkers have found that their lives have become unmanageable and that they are completely powerless over alcohol (84). Alcoholics should be cautious of their surroundings to prevent
Using fear, while not aggressively, Silveri highlights the fact that excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading leading cause of preventable death. The author discusses this topic in a way that seems to be to scare anybody she is trying to convince. A mother reading this could worry about her daughter, or a young man in college who drinks often could take his drinking habits far more seriously after reading something like that. Also, ending the article on an optimistic note, she allows the reader to have some hope. Silveri mentions the reduction of maladaptive alcohol use through better recognition of the negative tendencies that comes with alcohol abuse in adolescents. (Adolescent Brain Development and Underage Drinking in the United States: Identifying Risks of Alcohol Use in College
Teenage alcohol abuse is one of the major problems that affect academic performance, cause health problems and is responsible for the death of teenage drivers and sometime their passengers. Many teens drink because they think it is cool and do not understand the dangers of drinking alcohol. In 2008 a survey on the students views on alcohol was conducted in the Atlanta Public School System of 4,241 students surveyed results showed 74% of sixth graders felt there was a health risk while 25% felt there was no health risk; 81% of eighth graders felt there was a health risk, while 19% felt there was none; 82% of tenth graders felt there was a health risk, while 18% felt there was none, and 84% of twelve graders felt there was a health risk, while 15% felt there was none. Given these results on average of all grades, 20% of the students surveyed were unaware of the dangers of alcohol use. If one calculates, using the formular of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2003), “three teens are killed each day when they drink alcohol and drive. At least six more die every day from other alcohol-related causes” (table 79). The impact of this student population’s lack of knowledge equates to 49 of those students per week who most likely will die because they do not understand the dangers of alcohol.2
Excessive alcohol consumption is often known as binge drinking. Binge drinking is defined as the consumption of at least five or more alcoholic beverages for men and four or more alcoholic beverages for women in a row on a given occasion (2). Studies show that in addition to the forty-four percent of college students who binge drink, one third of high school seniors also admit to having binged at least once in the two weeks prior to being surveyed. The greatest question posed, is why does such a destructive activity appeal in particular to this age group?
Health problem and drunk driving hit the list. Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. In addition, alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion [3]. Not only that, alcohol can also increase the risk of developing certain cancer. But almost every drinker knows these horrible diseases above, then why they never stop drinking? The point is, a short-term alcohol consumption does tiny harm to human’s body, only long-term alcohol consumption can impair the body badly. Nevertheless, the contradiction is apparent to find out: when a drinker finds that there is something wrong with their health, it is too late. And in a drinker’s early life, they can not completely realize which kind of damage that alcohol consumption can lead because they were healthy at that time——at least on the surface. Alcohol just like a chronic disease, making drinkers less vigilant, and brings on severe health consequences in the end.
In conclusion binge drinking is a serious health issue that needs to be dealt with. This affects so many people throughout the year and most people don’t realize that they binge drink half the time. I believe this mostly affects younger age kids who are 17-20 years old who go out and drink until they black out. This day and age young adults aren’t really informed about this and can possibly prevent injuries to themselves and others if someone would just talk to them about what’s going on. If people knew more about this subject and the effects on their health I believe more the numbers would drop and people would look for more help with their addiction to alcohol
Alcohol abuse is the most common problem, nowadays. In fact, majority of people drink alcohol repeatedly to the point where they have difficulty to stop. Statistics show that, as much as, “40% of college students report drinking five or more drinks in one episode” (Walters & Baer, 2006). Alcohol has become more popular over the years as advertisements, simultaneously with commercials of it, filled the media. It also is easily accessible and cheap in comparison to other psychoactive substances. On the other hand, alcohol safety awareness programs are barely noticeable. My research will present how alcohol and its abuse gets into people’s lives and how it influences their physical and mental health, as well as, social existence.
By the twelfth grade, 93 percent of the young men and 87 percent of the young women have at least tried one drink. Thirty percent of these students had five or more drinks in a row within the previous two weeks. (Landau, p.15) The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states that: ?By the time ...