The Dangers of Alcohol:
Will You Say No?
Facts
- By age 14, 41% of children have had at least one drink
- Nearly 7.82 million 12-20 year old girls were reported consuming alcohol in the past year
- Each year, an estimated 30,000 college students need medical treatment after overdosing on alcohol
- In 2009, about 10.4 million young people between ages 12 and 20 drank more than “just a few sips” of alcohol.
- As kids get older, they drink more. By age 15, half of teens have had at least one drink. By age 18, more than 70% of teens have had at least one drink.
- It's estimated that almost 3 million teenagers are out-and-out alcoholics. Several million more have a serious drinking problem that they can't manage on their own
- Underage drinking is often associated with adult drinking practices. For example, children of parents who binge are twice as likely to binge themselves and to meet alcohol dependence criteria.
What are Some Influences?
-Peer Pressure
- The odds of a teenager drinking to excess more than double if they spend more than two evenings a week with friends. Spending every evening with friends multiplies the odds of excessive drinking habits more than four times.
-Media
- Greater exposure to alcohol advertising contributes to an increase in drinking among underage youth.
- With the way the media places celebrities in the spotlight, young fans are becoming more exposed to their way of life.
- In popular magazines, the media often includes pictures of celebrities going out to clubs or parties and drinking alcohol.
- This has led to the increase in underage drinking by showing younger people that famous people do it, therefore, they should be doing it as well.
- The media portrays alcohol use through movies, television, and music.
-Parental Exposure
- The odds of a teenager getting drunk often double if they have seen their parents drunk (even if only a few times) compared with teenagers who have never seen their parents drunk.
-Adult Modeling
- When the media portrays alcohol, they almost always will use an attractive male or female to draw your attention to the advertisement.
- Teenagers who see these ads are influenced to drink because they think of it as "cool" and "attractive."
How Can It Affect You?
-Short Term:
- blurred vision
- slurred speech
- impairs motor coordination
- increases heart beat
- lowers body temperature
- vomiting
- hangover
- alcohol poisoning
- unconsciousness
- coma
- high blood pressure
- heart muscle damage
- loss of brain function
- liver damage
- pancreas problems
- ulcers
- malnutrition
- throat & mouth cancer
- nerve damage
- alcohol poisoning
-Resources
- Alcoholics Anonymous, RI: go to www.rhodeisland-aa.org or call (401) 438-8860
- SMART Recovery: go to http://www.smartrecovery.org/ or call 440-951-5357
- National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence: go to http://www.ncadd.org/ or call 1800-622-2255
- Al-Anon Family Groups: go to http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/ for more information