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Adolescent Alcohol Abuse: A Serious Problem

October 17, 2009

Recent alcohol abuse statistics reveal that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Many alcohol abuse professionals emphasize the point that alcohol advertisements constructed by the media are a significant reason for the increase in teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcohol addiction specialists think that the increase in teenage alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and convenience of beer, wine, and liquor in our society.

Still other alcohol abuse professionals declare that more than a few of our adolescents get involved in destructive drinking because of the increased apprehension that they are subjected to.

From a somewhat different perspective, due to the fact that both parents in more than a few families work full or part-time, the lack of parental supervision surely has to play an essential role in the expansion of youth alcohol abuse. And finally, various alcohol abuse authorities assert that the rise in teenage alcohol abuse is due, in some degree, to our lenient society.

Hazardous Drinking and Coping Skills Education

One feature of adolescent alcohol abuse that looks like it is somewhat incomplete in the alcoholism research findings, conversely, is the lack of educational programs that teach adolescents how to enhance their coping skills so that their abusive drinking behavior is fundamentally decreased or done away with.

Stated another way, scientific research has revealed that there is an indirect correlation between poor coping skills and excessive drinking. Essentially, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the greater the frequency of alcohol abuse. To the degree that this is a truthful line of reasoning, why isn’t coping skills instruction a fundamental part of the educational prospectus in all of our high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools?

A Society That Highlights Adolescent Coping Skills

Let us manufacture a scenario for the purpose of clarification. Let us imagine a society in which all people are trained how to develop superior coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including the twelfth grade.

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

Stated another way, students who display outstanding coping skills will be more able to think proactively and show signs of quality decision making as opposed to adolescents who, because they failed to obtain outstanding coping skills, gravitate to the “quick fix” of excessive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, furthermore, if teens not only obtained top quality coping skills training but also received an exclusive education that stressed the short term and long term damaging consequences associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these kinds of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills education, it is affirmed, would help adolescents steer clear of the apparent charm correlated with underage drinking and, as a result, would fundamentally diminish the harmful drinking behavior exhibited by adolescents in our country.

Teen Risky Drinking: Conclusion

There are without a doubt various justifiable reasons why so many of our teens drink in an abusive manner. Such a knotty predicament demands a thorough and more pertinent preventative and educational response by our educators, politicians, parents, and students so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s problems in a more rewarding and responsible manner rather than resorting to abusive drinking behavior to solve their problems.

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