October 21, 2009

Adolescent Alcohol Abuse: A Serious 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 alcohol dependency experts argue that alcohol ads created by the media are a fundamental reason for the rise in teen alcohol abuse.

Other substance abuse specialists stress the point that the increase in is due to the toleration and accessibility of liquor, beer, and wine in our society.

Still other alcohol abuse experts assert that quite a few of our teenagers engage in hazardous drinking due to the increased anxiety that they undergo.

From a slightly different outlook, because both parents in a number of families are employed, the lack of parental supervision clearly has to play a significant part in the increase in . And last of all, different alcohol abuse specialists declare that the rise in is due, in some way, to our lax society.

Coping Skills Education and Alcohol Abuse

One feature of that seems to be under reported in the alcohol dependency research results, in contrast, is the paucity of educational programs that teach adolescents how to further develop their coping skills so that their excessive drinking behavior is fundamentally decreased or eliminated.

Stated more explicitly, scientific research has uncovered the fact that there is an indirect connection between poor coping skills and abusive drinking. In point of fact, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the higher the prevalence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a correct declaration, why isn’t coping skills instruction a significant part of the educational core curriculum in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?

A Society That Emphasizes Teenage Coping Skills

Let us construct a scenario for the purpose of clarification. Let us imagine a society in which all people are taught how to achieve solid coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including the twelfth grade.

In such a society, when life gets demanding, individuals who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more successful manner, as opposed to others who fail to apply their coping skills.

More precisely, students who display good coping skills will be more able to think proactively and show signs of first-class decision making as opposed to teens who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement top quality coping skills, resort to the “quick fix” of abusive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, moreover, if teenagers not only got first-rate coping skills education but also obtained a first class education that outlined the long term and short term unhealthy consequences associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Such an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills instruction, it is declared, would help teens keep away from the clear fascination with youth drinking and, for that reason, would radically decrease the abusive drinking behavior exhibited by the youth in our country.

: Conclusion

There are evidently more than a few defensible reasons why so many of our teenagers drink in a dangerous manner. Such a thorny problem demands a comprehensive and more meaningful preventative and educational response by our educators, parents, politicians, and students so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s problems in a more productive and accountable manner rather than resorting to dangerous drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.

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