Youth Alcohol Abuse: A Serious Problem
Recent alcohol abuse statistics reveal that alcohol abuse among teenagers is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Many alcohol addiction professionals state that beer, liquor, and wine advertisements created by the media are a major reason for the expansion of teen alcohol abuse.
Other substance abuse experts think that the increase in youth alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and convenience of beer, wine, and liquor in our society.
Still other substance abuse professionals believe that quite a few of our teens get involved in destructive drinking because of the increased fretfulness that they feel.
From a slightly different viewpoint, due to the fact that both parents in many families work full or part-time, the lack of parental supervision definitely has to play a fundamental role in the expansion of teenage alcohol abuse. And last but not least, diverse alcoholism experts assert that the escalation of youth alcohol abuse is due, at least partially, to our permissive society.
Alcohol Abuse and Coping Skills
One component of teenage alcohol abuse that looks as if it somewhat incomplete in the alcohol dependency research results, however, is the scarcity of educational courses that teach adolescents how to improve upon their coping skills so that their dangerous drinking behavior is notably lessened or exterminated.
Stated more precisely, science has shown that there is an indirect link between poor coping skills and alcohol abuse. In effect, this means that the worse the coping skills, the higher the prevalence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a truthful proclamation, why isn’t coping skills instruction a fundamental part of the educational curriculum in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?
A Society That Highlights Youth Coping Skills
Let us create a scenario for descriptive purposes. Let us imagine a society in which students are taught how to develop superior coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their senior year in high school.
In such a society, when life gets demanding, people who are ”coping skills experts” will be able to respond in a healthier and more creative manner, contrary to others who fail to put their coping skills into operation.
Stated more precisely, students who display superior coping skills will be more able to think proactively and display top quality decision making as opposed to teens who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement good coping skills, are drawn to the “quick fix” of excessive drinking.
What would happen in the above “ideal” society, additionally, if students not only got top quality coping skills instruction but also obtained a first class education that stressed the long term and short term injurious costs associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these types of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills education, it is pronounced, would help adolescents stay away from the apparent charm associated with teen drinking and, accordingly, would fundamentally reduce the abusive drinking behavior shown by teenagers in our country.
Teen Hazardous Drinking: Conclusion
There are unquestionably more than a few well thought-out reasons why so many of our adolescents abuse alcohol. Such a complicated issue demands a wide-ranging and more applicable preventative and educational response by our parents, educators, politicians, and students so that our teens can learn how to cope with life’s predicaments in a more rewarding and responsible manner rather than gravitating to risky drinking behavior to solve their problems.
