Youth Alcohol Abuse: A Severe Problem

Recent alcohol abuse statistics demonstrate the fact that alcohol abuse among adolescents is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Quite a few substance abuse consultants affirm that beer, liquor, and wine ads produced by the media are a primary reason for the expansion of teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcohol abuse experts articulate that the increase in teenage alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and accessibility of alcohol in our society.

Still other alcoholism experts think that numerous young people get involved in injurious drinking because of the increased tension that they face.

From a somewhat different vantage point, since both parents in more than a few families work full or part-time, the lack of parental guidance evidently has to play a major part in the increase in youth alcohol abuse. And finally, a variety of alcoholism professionals stress the point that the expansion of youth alcohol abuse is due, in some way, to our lenient society.

Coping Skills and Hazardous Drinking

One facet of adolescent alcohol abuse that looks as if it under reported in the alcoholism research results, to the contrary, is the absence of educational courses that teach adolescents how to enhance their coping skills so that their risky drinking behavior is drastically diminished or exterminated.

More specifically, scientific research has illustrated the fact that there is an indirect link between poor coping skills and alcohol abuse. In point of fact, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the higher the occurrence of alcohol abuse. To the degree that this is an accurate declaration, why isn’t coping skills instruction a primary part of the educational prospectus in all of our high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools?

A Society That Stresses Teenage Coping Skills

Let us manufacture a scenario for for the purpose of elucidation. Let us imagine a society in which all individuals are taught how to achieve sound coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their final year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets stressful, people who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more successful manner, contrary to others who fail to execute their coping skills.

More to the point, students who show evidence of excellent coping skills will be more able to think proactively and demonstrate excellent decision making as opposed to students who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement outstanding coping skills, gravitate to the “quick fix” of hazardous drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, in addition, if students not only received top shelf coping skills education but also got an excellent education that focused on the short term and long term damaging outcomes associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Such an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills education, it is proclaimed, would help students keep away from the noticeable attraction with youth drinking and, for that reason, would fundamentally reduce the abusive drinking behavior demonstrated by teenagers in our country.

Youth Alcohol Abuse: Conclusion

There are obviously scores of sound reasons why so many of our teens drink in a dangerous manner. Such a tricky predicament demands a far-reaching and more pertinent educational and preventative response by our educators, parents, politicians, and students so that our teenagers can learn how to cope with life’s problems in a more fruitful and responsible manner instead of gravitating to harmful drinking behavior to solve their problems.