Teenage Alcohol Abuse: A Serious Problem

Alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among adolescents is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Many alcohol addiction authorities believe that wine, beer, and liquor ads brought into being by the media are a major reason for the increase in teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcoholism consultants think that the increase in teen alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and convenience of beer, wine, and liquor in our society.

Still other substance abuse experts claim that quite a few of our teens get involved in alcohol abuse due to the increased pressure that they are subjected to.

From a somewhat different perspective, because both parents in many families are employed, the lack of parental supervision clearly has to play a major part in the increase in teen alcohol abuse. And last of all, different alcoholism authorities claim that the escalation of teen alcohol abuse is due, at least partially, to our “anything goes” society.

Coping Skills and Excessive Drinking

One feature of teen alcohol abuse that appears to be under reported in the alcohol addiction research results, nevertheless, is the absence of educational courses that teach adolescents how to augment their coping skills so that their hazardous drinking behavior is substantially diminished or eliminated.

Stated more precisely, scientific research has demonstrated that there is an indirect correlation between poor coping skills and hazardous drinking. Basically, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the higher the prevalence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a truthful assertion, why isn’t coping skills instruction an essential part of the academic core curriculum in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?

A Society That Underscores Teenage Coping Skills

Let us create a scenario for for the purpose of illumination. Let us imagine a society in which students are trained how to achieve outstanding coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their senior year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets challenging, individuals who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more creative way, contrary to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to put their coping skills into operation.

More specifically, students who exhibit superior coping skills will be more able to think logically and display first-class decision making as opposed to students who, because they lack quality coping skills, are attracted to the “quick fix” of excessive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, moreover, if teenagers not only got excellent coping skills instruction but also got a first-rate education that focused on the long term and short term damaging results associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these types of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills instruction, it is emphasized, would help adolescents avoid the obvious fascination with teen drinking and, therefore, would notably reduce the dangerous drinking behavior demonstrated by adolescents in our country.

Adolescent Hazardous Drinking: Conclusion

There are clearly more than a few legitimate reasons why so many of our teenagers drink in an injurious manner. Such a complicated subject demands a far-reaching and more applicable educational and preventative response by our educators, politicians, parents, and students so that our adolescents can learn how to cope with life’s predicaments in a more productive and accountable manner rather than resorting to harmful drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.