Adolescent Alcohol Abuse: A Major Problem
Recent alcohol abuse statistics demonstrate the fact that alcohol abuse among teenagers is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? More than a few chemical dependency consultants assert that liquor, beer, and wine advertisements constructed by the media are a key reason for the spread of teen alcohol abuse.
Other alcohol addiction authorities emphasize the point that the increase in teenage alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and ease of access of liquor, wine, and beer in our society.
Still other alcohol dependency authorities believe that numerous teenagers involve themselves in harmful drinking because of the increased pressure that they feel.
From a somewhat different viewpoint, because both parents in a number of families work full or part-time, the lack of parental guidance evidently has to play a fundamental role in the expansion of teenage alcohol abuse. And as a final point, a variety of substance abuse specialists affirm that the escalation of adolescent alcohol abuse is due, in some degree, to our permissive society.
Alcohol Abuse and Coping Skills Training
One component of adolescent alcohol abuse that looks as if it under reported in the alcohol addiction research results, then again, is the shortage of educational courses that teach teenagers how to enhance their coping skills so that their hazardous drinking behavior is notably diminished or done away with.
More precisely, scientific research has uncovered the fact that there is an indirect association between poor coping skills and alcohol abuse. In essence, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the higher the rate of alcohol abuse. To the degree that this is a correct claim, why isn’t coping skills training an essential part of the academic core curriculum in all of our junior high schools, elementary schools, and high schools?
A Society That Underscores Youth Coping Skills
Let us manufacture a scenario for illustrative purposes. Let us imagine a society in which all individuals are taught how to develop excellent coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including the twelfth grade.
In such a society, when life gets challenging, people who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more creative manner, as opposed to others who fail to execute their coping skills.
Stated another way, students who show evidence of superior coping skills will be more able to think clearly and show signs of excellent decision making as opposed to teens who, because they failed to obtain quality coping skills, resort to the “quick fix” of hazardous drinking.
What would happen in the above “ideal” society, additionally, if students not only obtained exclusive coping skills instruction but also obtained an outstanding education that accentuated the long term and short term harmful results associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills training, it is pronounced, would help teens stay away from the obvious appeal associated with youth drinking and, consequently, would substantially lessen the alcohol abuse displayed by teenagers in our country.
Teenage Hazardous Drinking: Conclusion
There are surely scores of legitimate reasons why so many of our teenagers abuse alcohol. Such a knotty subject matter demands a comprehensive and more meaningful educational and preventative response by our politicians, parents, educators, and students so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s difficulties in a more rewarding and responsible manner rather than resorting to excessive drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.
