Teenage Alcohol Abuse: A Significant Problem

Recent alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among adolescents is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Quite a few chemical dependency experts believe that wine, beer, and liquor ads generated by the media are a primary reason for the rise in teen alcohol abuse.

Other chemical dependency experts stress the point that the increase in teenage alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and ease of access of liquor, beer, and wine in our society.

Still other substance abuse specialists declare that more than a few of our teenagers involve themselves in harmful drinking because of the increased fretfulness that they face.

From a slightly different standpoint, due to the fact that both parents in quite a few families are employed, the lack of parental guidance surely has to play a fundamental part in the escalation of youth alcohol abuse. And lastly, diverse alcohol dependency authorities articulate that the spread of youth alcohol abuse is due, to some extent, to our lenient society.

Abusive Drinking and Coping Skills Education

One component of teen alcohol abuse that appears to be under reported in the chemical dependency research results, nonetheless, is the scarcity of educational programs that teach teens how to upgrade their coping skills so that their injurious drinking behavior is substantially diminished or done away with.

Stated more explicitly, science has displayed the fact that there is an indirect connection between poor coping skills and abusive drinking. For all intents and purposes, this means that the poorer the coping skills, the greater the incidence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a correct line of reasoning, why isn’t coping skills training a major part of the academic core curriculum in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?

A Society That Stresses Youth Coping Skills

Let us manufacture a scenario for explanatory purposes. Let us imagine a society in which students are trained how to develop excellent coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their senior year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets difficult, people who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a healthier and more successful way, contrary to others who fail to execute their coping skills.

Stated more precisely, students who show evidence of good coping skills will be more able to think proactively and show signs of quality decision making as opposed to adolescents who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement top quality coping skills, gravitate to the “quick fix” of excessive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, furthermore, if students not only received exceptional coping skills education but also received an outstanding education that stressed the long term and short term damaging costs associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Such an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills training, it is advocated, would help teenagers steer clear of the apparent charm correlated with adolescent drinking and, accordingly, would significantly reduce the excessive drinking behavior exhibited by the youth in our country.

Teenage Excessive Drinking: Conclusion

There are unquestionably various justifiable reasons why so many of our teens drink in a hazardous manner. Such a complex predicament demands a far-reaching and more meaningful educational and preventative response by our students, educators, politicians, and parents so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s difficulties in a more fruitful and accountable way instead of gravitating to abusive drinking behavior to solve their problems.