Teen Alcohol Abuse: A Serious Problem

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 dependency consultants stress the point that alcohol ads produced by the media are a primary reason for the rise in teen alcohol abuse.

Other chemical dependency authorities argue that the increase in youth alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and ease of access of alcohol in our society.

Still other alcoholism experts believe that numerous adolescents engage in dangerous drinking due to the increased fretfulness that they are subjected to.

From a somewhat different perspective, because both parents in a number of families are gainfully employed, the lack of parental supervision obviously has to play a major role in the expansion of teenage alcohol abuse. And as a final point, various chemical dependency professionals assert that the escalation of youth alcohol abuse is due, in some degree, to our “anything goes” society.

Excessive Drinking and Coping Skills Education

One facet of youth alcohol abuse that appears to be lacking in the alcoholism research findings, conversely, is the lack of educational programs that teach adolescents how to augment their coping skills so that their injurious drinking behavior is radically decreased or gotten rid of.

Stated more precisely, science has uncovered the fact that there is an indirect connection between poor coping skills and abusive drinking. Fundamentally, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the higher the prevalence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is an accurate allegation , why isn’t coping skills training a major part of the educational curriculum in all of our junior high schools, elementary schools, and high schools?

A Society That Puts Emphasis On Youth Coping Skills

Let us manufacture a scenario for explanatory purposes. Let us imagine a society in which all people are taught how to achieve first-class 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, individuals who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a healthier and more creative way, as opposed to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to apply their coping skills.

Stated more precisely, students who demonstrate superior coping skills will be more able to think logically and show signs of first-class decision making as opposed to teenagers who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement first-rate coping skills, gravitate to the “quick fix” of excessive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, what’s more, if adolescents not only received exceptional coping skills education but also obtained an exceptional education that focused on the short term and long term destructive consequences associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Such an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills training, it is advocated, would help adolescents keep away from the apparent allure of teen drinking and, accordingly, would notably reduce the excessive drinking behavior undertaken by the youth in our country.

Teen Alcohol Abuse: Conclusion

There are indubitably a number of convincing reasons why so many of our teens abuse alcohol. Such a tricky predicament demands a wide-ranging and more applicable educational and preventative response by our educators, politicians, parents, and students so that our teenagers can learn how to cope with life’s predicaments in a more productive and responsible manner rather than gravitating to abusive drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.