Underage Drinking & Links to Addiction

Teenagers possess the top three golden characteristics that put them at a high risk for developing an addiction to alcohol or other substances. For one, teens are known to be risk takers who don’t think about the consequences of their actions. Two, they are highly inexperienced with alcohol and are likely to overdo it. Three, they are the most likely group to give in to peer pressure easily.

Human brains take time to develop and it isn’t until our late twenties that our brains are completely finished. During the teenage years the part of the brain that is responsible for the reward center develops faster than the area that controls decision making. This phase of development may be the reason why teenagers act so recklessly when they are under the influence.

Since teenagers are still developing their decision making skills, when alcohol is involved in a situation it leads to an alarming amount of reckless behavior like drunk driving, fighting, stealing, being violent or just being delinquent. Their lack of rationality may also be the reason why teenagers always partake in idiotic, dangerous activities when they are drunk. In boys this might look like them jumping off a roof into a pool or trying to jump over a bonfire, but in girls it may look like leaving their friend behind at a party or going off with a guy they don’t know. If a teen starts using alcohol and continuously makes questionable decisions then as they grow up these traits will follow them and transform into an alcohol addiction or leave them with other substance abuse issues.

Despite what most teenagers think their brain can handle, alcohol may actually permanently damage their brain and cause issues with memory, coordination and motor skills in the long run. Most teens don’t try alcohol with the intention of getting addicted, but the younger they start drinking and the more often they binge drink the more likely they are to develop an addiction. Some teens may start drinking because they feel like it makes them less awkward in social situations, but the teenage years are supposed to be when you go through the awkward phases and learn how to manage them. When alcohol is used as a crutch to get through problems as a teenager, it becomes a necessity in adulthood.

Alcohol is often used as a bandage for problems, however, teens are still trying to learn how to cope with stressful situations and alcohol only increases the amount of problems they will face. Addiction begins when a user builds up such a tolerance to a substance that they start feeling more normal with it in their system than without. Teenagers are still trying to figure out how to navigate the world, and adding alcohol into that equation may end up warping their idea of reality. If they are unhappy and attempt to fix that with alcohol, they are only conditioning their brains to believe alcohol equates to happiness. If they believe they are socially rewarded and use alcohol as a way to open up, then they will never learn how to be social and will depend on alcohol for every social event.

Teenagers are not invincible when it comes to addiction and in order to protect their developing brains prevention is key. Make sure that alcohol is not easily accessible to your children and make sure you know who they are hanging out with and what they do for fun. Make friends with your kid’s friend’s parents too to make sure you are all on the same page when it comes to underage drinking.

By// Jessica Lee

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