Think B4U Drink
By Sara Jamison
"82% of high school seniors have used alcohol."
No problem, you say, but contrary to teenage beliefs, it is. Probably all of you teenagers reading this are under 21 years of age--and in most states, a person must be 21 or older to drink alcoholic beverages. So why are there even statistics on high schoolers? We can't legally drink!! Because whether or not we care, obviously a large percent of us drink.
The most scary thought is the actual usage rate of alcohol by teens. According to the NCADD (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence) organization, "junior/middle and senior high school students drink 35% of all wine coolers sold in the United States; they also consume 1.1 billion cans of beer." Okay, talk about a rude awakening! That much?! Woah. And according to NIDA, 20% of teens between the ages 18-25 are more "likely to binge or drink heavily." Maybe it's just me, but those facts are pretty shocking for a teenager like myself.
What makes most teenagers start drinking anyways? "56% of students in grades 5-12 say that alcohol advertising encourages them to drink," presents a survey conducted by CNN Newsroom and Scholastic. Peer pressure is also an important factor, but according to South Carolina's alcohol prevention website, research indicates that peer pressure is a smaller factor in predictiong teenage alcohol use than are:
- the example set by parents, and
- the teenagers use of cigarettes.
Odd. Also, the family environment that a teenager lives in is a factor. Whether they have a parent who drinks or whether they just have a broken family structure or family conflict, they are considered "risk factors" and are more likely to create stress on a teenager, which can lead to alcoholism for a stress reliever or just for comfort. But "just because alcoholism tends to run in families doesn't mean that a child of an alcoholic parent will automatically develop alcoholism."
So you think of drinking as something to do as a "hobby" or stress reliever? Well, thinking along those lines can lead to future problems. According to the website, "heavy drinking can increase the risk for certain cancers...in addition, drinking increases the risk of death from automobile crashes, recreational accidents, and on-the-job accidents, and also increases the likelihood of homocide and suicide." In fact, "alcohol use is the number-one killer of young people in South Carolina, as well as the number-one killer of young people throughout the country. 45% of all deaths among 15-24 year olds in South Carolina are alcohol related." Hmmmm...does that tell you something? I thought so. Just think, if those are the statistics present in South Carolina alone, they'll probably be very similar in your state. Case closed.
I hope this article makes you think before you drink!
About the Author:
Sara Jamison may be contacted by email at sarajamison@hotmail.com.
Article courtesy of www.suite101.com.
