Powered by Max Banner Ads 

Alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Quite a few chemical dependency specialists assert that beer, liquor, and wine ads constructed by the media are a primary reason for the proliferation of teen alcohol abuse.

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

Still other substance abuse consultants articulate that quite a few of our young people get involved in abusive drinking because of the increased stress that they undergo.

From a somewhat different outlook, since both parents in many families work full or part-time, the lack of parental supervision surely has to play an important part in the rise in adolescent alcohol abuse. And lastly, different substance abuse consultants stress the point that the proliferation of adolescent alcohol abuse is due, in some degree, to our “anything goes” society.

Coping Skills Training and Hazardous Drinking

One aspect of teen alcohol abuse that appears to be under reported in the substance abuse research results, conversely, is the lack of educational programs that teach adolescents how to improve upon their coping skills so that their dangerous drinking behavior is significantly reduced or done away with.

More precisely, science has uncovered the fact that there is an indirect connection between poor coping skills and hazardous drinking. In point of fact, this means that the poorer the coping skills, the greater the occurrence of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is an accurate contention, why isn’t coping skills education a fundamental part of the educational curriculum in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?

A Society That Accentuates Youth Coping Skills

Let us construct a scenario for explanatory purposes. Let us imagine a society in which students are taught how to achieve superior coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their final year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets demanding, students who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more creative way, as opposed to others who fail to put their coping skills into operation.

More specifically, students who show evidence of first-class coping skills will be more able to think proactively and exhibit top quality decision making as opposed to adolescents who, because they failed to obtain top-of-the-line coping skills, gravitate to the “quick fix” of hazardous drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, furthermore, if students not only received top shelf coping skills training but also got a top shelf education that outlined the short term and long term harmful consequences associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these kinds of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills training, it is advocated, would help adolescents avoid the obvious appeal related to teenage drinking and, as a result, would fundamentally lessen the dangerous drinking behavior demonstrated by teenagers in our country.

Adolescent Excessive Drinking: Conclusion

There are clearly a number of convincing reasons why so many of our teens drink in an excessive manner. Such a complex problem demands a wide-ranging and more meaningful educational and preventative response by our educators, students, parents, and politicians so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s difficulties in a more fruitful and accountable way instead of gravitating to abusive drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.

Technorati Tags: adolescent alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse facts, alcohol abuse statistics, teen alcohol abuse, teenage alcohol abuse, youth alcohol abuse
Add to Onlywire  |     |   Email This Post  |  Posted in Kids and Teens |