Teenage Alcohol Abuse: A Difficult Issue

Recent alcohol abuse statistics demonstrate the fact that alcohol abuse among teenagers is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? More than a few substance abuse authorities affirm that liquor, beer, and wine advertisements produced by the media are a key reason for the expansion of teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcohol dependency authorities emphasize the point that the increase in youth alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and accessibility of beer, wine, and liquor in our society.

Still other substance abuse specialists state that more than a few of our young people engage in hazardous drinking because of the increased fretfulness that they feel.

From a somewhat different standpoint, due to the fact that both parents in many families are employed, the lack of parental supervision clearly has to play a key role in the expansion of adolescent alcohol abuse. And finally, a variety of chemical dependency experts stress the point that the escalation of adolescent alcohol abuse is due, in part, to our “anything goes” society.

Abusive Drinking and Coping Skills Training

One component of teenage alcohol abuse that looks like it is deficient in the chemical dependency research findings, nonetheless, is the lack of educational courses that teach teens how to augment their coping skills so that their destructive drinking behavior is substantially reduced or eradicated.

Stated another way, science has shown that there is an indirect relationship between poor coping skills and alcohol abuse. Basically, this means that the worse the coping skills, the higher the rate of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a truthful allegation , why isn’t coping skills training a major part of the educational core curriculum in all of our junior high schools, elementary schools, and high schools?

A Society That Highlights Youth Coping Skills

Let us manufacture a scenario for illustrative purposes. Let us imagine a society in which all individuals are trained how to develop first rate coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their final year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets challenging, people who are ”coping skills experts” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more productive manner, as opposed to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to apply their coping skills.

More explicitly, students who reveal first rate coping skills will be more able to think logically and demonstrate superior decision making as opposed to teenagers who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to learn top-of-the-line coping skills, are drawn to the “quick fix” of abusive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, in addition, if adolescents not only obtained top shelf coping skills training but also received a top shelf education that emphasized the long term and short term negative costs associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Such an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills education, it is pronounced, would help teenagers stay away from the clear charm related to underage drinking and, accordingly, would fundamentally reduce the abusive drinking behavior displayed by teenagers in our country.

Adolescent Excessive Drinking: Conclusion

There are surely scores of valid reasons why so many of our teens drink in an abusive manner. Such a complex subject demands an all-inclusive and more applicable educational and preventative response by our politicians, educators, students, and parents so that our teenagers can learn how to cope with life’s predicaments in a more rewarding and accountable way rather than gravitating to risky drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.

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