A Boozer is a Loser
Teen Alcohol Abuse
Drinking Levels among Youth
A 2011 survey found that in high school students, during the past 30 days
- 39% drank some amount of alcohol.
- 22% binge drank.
- 8% drove after drinking alcohol.
- 24% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.
Possible Effects of Youth Drinking
- School problems, such as higher absence and poor or failing grades.
- Social problems, such as fighting and lack of participation in youth activities.
- Legal problems, such as arrest for driving or physically hurting someone while drunk.
- Physical problems, such as hangovers or illnesses.
- Unwanted, unplanned, and unprotected sexual activity.
- Disruption of normal growth and sexual development.
- Physical and sexual assault.
- Higher risk for suicide and homicide.
- Alcohol-related car crashes and other unintentional injuries, such as burns, falls, and drowning.
- Memory problems.
- Abuse of other drugs.
- Changes in brain development that may have life-long effects.
- Death from alcohol poisoning.
Prevention of Underage Drinking
It takes a whole community to prevent teenagers from accessing alcohol and abusing it. The Surgeon General and the Institute of Medicine have outlined many prevention strategies that require actions on the national, state, and local levels, like enforcement of minimum legal drinking age laws, national media campaigns targeting youth and adults, increasing alcohol excise taxes, reducing youth exposure to alcohol advertising, and development of comprehensive community-based programs. These will require research and evaluation to determine their success and to improve their effectiveness.