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 alcohol abuse experts articulate that wine, liquor, and beer ads brought into being by the media are a significant reason for the escalation of teen alcohol abuse.
Other alcohol addiction authorities state that the increase in youth alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and accessibility of beer, liquor, and wine in our society.
Still other alcohol abuse experts assert that numerous teenagers get involved in harmful drinking because of the increased disquiet that they are subjected to.
From a slightly different viewpoint, since both parents in many families are employed, the lack of parental guidance surely has to play an important part in the spread of adolescent alcohol abuse. And as a final point, diverse substance abuse professionals declare that the spread of adolescent alcohol abuse is due, at some level, to our laissez-faire society.
Hazardous Drinking and Coping Skills
One component of teen alcohol abuse that seems to be somewhat incomplete in the chemical dependency research results, alternatively, is the insufficiency of educational programs that teach teens how to improve upon their coping skills so that their injurious drinking behavior is notably reduced or gotten rid of.
Stated more explicitly, scientific research has demonstrated that there is an indirect link between poor coping skills and abusive drinking. In essence, this means that the worse the coping skills, the greater the rate of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a valid contention, why isn’t coping skills instruction a key part of the educational core curriculum in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?
A Society That Emphasizes Adolescent Coping Skills
Let us construct a scenario for descriptive purposes. Let us imagine a society in which all people are taught how to develop solid coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their senior year in high school.
In such a society, when life gets difficult, people who are ”coping skills experts” will be able to respond in a healthier and more successful way, as opposed to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to implement their coping skills.
Stated more explicitly, students who exhibit high-quality coping skills will be more able to think proactively and engage in first-class decision making as opposed to teenagers who, because they lack top-of-the-line coping skills, are attracted to the “quick fix” of abusive drinking.
What would happen in the above “ideal” society, furthermore, if teens not only obtained exceptional coping skills training but also obtained an excellent education that outlined the long term and short term negative costs associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these types of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills education, it is declared, would help adolescents stay away from the clear attraction with underage drinking and, for that reason, would significantly lessen the dangerous drinking behavior undertaken by adolescents in our country.
Teen Excessive Drinking: Conclusion
There are without a doubt numerous well thought-out reasons why so many of our adolescents drink in a hazardous manner. Such a complex problem demands a comprehensive and more meaningful educational and preventative response by our parents, politicians, students, and educators so that our teens can learn how to cope with life’s difficulties in a more productive and responsible manner instead of gravitating to harmful drinking behavior to solve their problems.