ALCOHOL IS A DRUG. As such, it has the power to alter both the mind and body, and it is also potentially addictive. While most adults know the basic facts about alcohol and some of the inherent dangers of drinking, many of America’s teens do not.
A 1996 report released by the Department of Health and Human Services suggests that most teens, for example, do not understand the concept of alcohol content and do not know the relative strengths of different alcoholic beverages. Fully 80 percent of teens do not know that a twelveounce can of beer has the same amount of alcohol as a shot of whiskey. A third of the teens surveyed also do not understand the intoxicating effects of alcohol.
Estimates show that at least 8 million American teenagers consume alcohol every week and that almost half a million go on weekly drinking binges, drinking for the sole purpose of getting drunk. Forty percent of tenth graders and nearly 20 percent of eighth graders, for example, reported having been drunk in 1996.
Education is key to preventing teen alcoholism Perhaps if teens and preteens understood the effects of alcohol, the influences that lead to drinking, and the potential for social drinking to turn into alcoholism, many would not be the regular drinkers they are today. Perhaps if teens learned the skills for coping with emotional problems, the number one reason given by teens for their alco- hol abuse, many would not take their first drinks before entering high school.
When teens drink, they not only put themselves at risk for abuse but also increase their chances of becoming involved in crimes, suicides, and violent encounters with others. They are also more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. When they drink and drive, they risk adding to alcohol-related automobile fatality statistics. The number one killer of young people, alcohol-related traffic accidents, killed 2,222 sixteen- to twenty-year-olds in 1994.
While teen alcohol use in the United States is high, recent efforts are aimed at preventing numbers from rising even higher. From the kitchen table, to the classroom, to the local liquor store, new prevention strategies reach into virtually every aspect of teens’ lives. Some estimates suggest that more than fourteen hundred adolescents and young adults benefit daily from alcohol prevention programs.
More than 126,000 patients admitted to state-funded alcohol treatment programs in 1991 were under the age of twenty-one. In recognition of the fact that alcoholism is no longer just an adults’ disease, numerous treatment programs now focus specifically on teen alcoholism. Though employing traditional alcoholism treatment methods, these teen programs focus on issues and problems that lead to teen alcohol abuse. They also give teens a chance to see that they are not alone in their problems or their struggles to get sober.
The special challenge is to educate teens about the potential dangers of drinking before experimentation with alcohol turns into alcohol abuse, and before abuse turns into teen alcoholism. Teens who may already be alcoholics also need facts about alcohol that can help them both determine and admit that they may have problems. After all, teen alcoholics are likely to become adult alcoholics whose children are likely to become alcoholics in turn. This cycle of alcoholism can be broken, however, when addicted teens are given the help and support they need to become sober, self-confident adults who are ready to become productive members of society.
