Adolescent Alcohol Abuse: A Profound Issue
Recent alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Numerous alcohol addiction consultants state that beer, liquor, and wine advertisements generated by the media are a fundamental reason for the spread of teen alcohol abuse.
Other alcohol abuse professionals argue that the increase in adolescent alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and ease of access of wine,liquor, and beer in our society.
Still other chemical dependency experts claim that more than a few of our young people involve themselves in hazardous drinking due to the increased anxiety that they feel.
From a slightly different viewpoint, due to the fact that both parents in a number of families work full or part-time, the lack of parental supervision indubitably has to play an important part in the rise in teenage alcohol abuse. And as a final point, a variety of alcohol dependency specialists emphasize the point that the proliferation of adolescent alcohol abuse is due, at least partially, to our lax society.
Coping Skills Training and Hazardous Drinking
One component of teenage alcohol abuse that seems to be lacking in the alcoholism research results, conversely, is the insufficiency of educational programs that teach teenagers how to enhance their coping skills so that their harmful drinking behavior is notably reduced or gotten rid of.
More to the point, science has demonstrated that there is an indirect relationship between poor coping skills and alcohol abuse. In point of fact, this means that the poorer the coping skills, the greater the frequency of alcohol abuse. To the degree that this is a valid claim, why isn’t coping skills instruction a major part of the academic prospectus in all of our high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools?
A Society That Underscores Adolescent Coping Skills
Let us construct a scenario for illustrative purposes. Let us imagine a society in which all individuals are taught how to develop sound coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including the twelfth grade.
In such a society, when life gets demanding, individuals who are ”coping skills experts” will be able to respond in a healthier and more successful way, as opposed to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to put their coping skills into operation.
Stated more explicitly, students who demonstrate sound coping skills will be more able to think clearly and demonstrate quality decision making as opposed to students who, because they failed to obtain top-of-the-line coping skills, are attracted to the “quick fix” of abusive drinking.
What would happen in the above “ideal” society, additionally, if teenagers not only received top shelf coping skills training but also obtained an exclusive education that emphasized the short term and long term destructive results associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these kinds of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills training, it is pronounced, would help students steer clear of the obvious fascination with underage drinking and, as a result, would drastically decrease the destructive drinking behavior displayed by the youth in our country.
Teen Hazardous Drinking: Conclusion
There are unquestionably several defensible reasons why so many of our adolescents drink in an abusive manner. Such a complex issue demands a broad based and more applicable educational and preventative response by our politicians, parents, educators, and students so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s difficulties in a more fruitful and responsible way rather than resorting to excessive drinking behavior to solve their problems.
Related Posts
- The Critical Issues in A Successful Alcohol Abuse Intervention
- Talking to Your Physician About Your Alcohol Problems and Your Depression
- The Key Elements in A Successful Alcohol Intervention
- Alcohol Relapse and When Helping the Alcoholic Becomes Risky
- When Drinking Becomes a Problem That Requires Attention
