Underage Drinking: Revealing The Issue And Effects On Teenagers

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Alcohol is used for many reasons but when should you start drinking it? Many people started drinking alcohol under the age of 18 (the legal age to consume alcohol in Australia) and doing so is considered, breaking the law. Though many teenagers consume alcohol how do they get it? What affects does it have on a young mind? And why do some parents allow their child to drink under 18? These questions are widely asked throughout Australia and many teens deny having any association with alcohol but one in six teenagers have consumed alcohol in the past year. This shows that many teenagers drink alcohol and are drinking under the legal age.

Teenagers are supporting many of the alcoholic brands as 175 million drinks a being consumed each year by Australia’s underage drinkers. These are alarming rates of illegal alcohol assumption according to the Sydney Morning Herald. There are many reasons for teens to underage drink but there are differences between boys and girls. Girls who drink as teenagers say they drink to escape problems and cope with frustration or anger whereas boys drink because of peer pressure or to fit in. This is because boys are more likely to fall under the pressure of peers where girls aren’t as affected by peer pressure and use alcohol more to escape emotional problems and frustration. Another study shows that a lot of films have teenagers with alcohol and teens that had a higher exposure to alcohol use in films were more likely to try alcohol then teens with less exposure to alcohol films(drinkware,2019) This shows that media has an impact on teens outlook on alcohol and a reason why they want to try alcohol.

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What are the effects of underage drinking?

Underage drinking affects a teenager’s brain more then an adults as it has not fully developed and is vulnerable to many things. Teenagers who drink excessively are very vulnerable to having brain damage as they get older as it can impair brain function, memory coordination and motor skills. Teens that drink under the legal age are also more likely to commit sexual assault and get into physical fights while under the influence of alcohol as they can not think properly. Alcohol is the cause of three of the leading death causes in Australia with drink driving as a minor being the one of the biggest killers in Australia. Though they might have reasons for drinking the percentage of young teens drinking has increased from 72% in 2013 to 82% in 2016 and is still increasing. This means that more teens could be the next culprit of a drink driving accident, sexual assault or coward punch death. This causing a lifetime of problems for them and the people around them.

Is it good to allow a teen to underage drink?

Teenagers might not be able to drink in public but at home they aren’t stopped by anyone but their parents. Even though parents might think easing their teen into drinking is a safe way to teach them about alcohol its not. A recent study shows that parental provision of alcohol to underage teens does not protect them against increased alcohol assumption later in life. (Drinkwise,2019) This saying the best thing a parent can do is educate their teen about the dangers of drinking alcohol and hold them off drinking until the legal drinking age of 18.

Solution

Today, alcohol is a big factor and many teens do drink under the legal age but there are ways to prevent the consumption of alcohol within the teenage community. Alcohol Drug Information Service(ADIS) this is an Australian wide service that has many programs to educate Australian teens and the affects and responsibilities of alcohol. These programs help many teens around Australia who are heavy drinkers to cut down or stop drinking and inform teens who are willing to try alcohol what the consequences are and how they can responsibly drink. There needs to be more programs such as ADIS around the world to teach teens as underage drinking is a worldwide problem.

References

  1. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/underage-drinking/
  2. https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/underage-drinking/teenage-drinking/
  3. https://www.smh.com.au/national/underage-binge-drinking-rates-alarming-20081111-5maj.html
  4. https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/crime/drugs_and_alcohol/alcohol/alcohol_pages/alcohol_and_young_people
  5. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol/alcohol-tobacco-other-drugs-australia/contents/priority-populations/young-people
  6. https://campaigns.health.gov.au/drughelp/drug-trends-and-statistics
  7. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/drugs-teenagers
  8. https://www.addictioncenter.com/teenage-drug-abuse/underage-drinking/

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