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? Quite a few alcoholism specialists stress the point that liquor, wine, and beer ads produced by the media are an essential reason for the proliferation of teen alcohol abuse.
Other alcohol abuse consultants stress the point that the increase in adolescent alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and accessibility of alcohol in our society.
Still other alcoholism experts state that more than a few of our young people involve themselves in alcohol abuse because of the increased disquiet that they undergo.
From a somewhat different vantage point, because both parents in quite a few families are employed, the lack of parental supervision certainly has to play an essential role in the proliferation of adolescent alcohol abuse. And last but not least, various alcohol addiction professionals emphasize the point that the rise in youth alcohol abuse is due, in some measure, to our permissive society.
Excessive Drinking and Coping Skills
One element of youth alcohol abuse that looks as if it lacking in the alcohol addiction research findings, to the contrary, is the paucity of educational programs that teach teenagers how to augment their coping skills so that their hazardous drinking behavior is fundamentally reduced or eradicated.
Stated differently, scientific research has shown that there is an indirect connection between poor coping skills and alcohol abuse. Fundamentally, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the greater the frequency of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is an accurate affirmation, why isn’t coping skills instruction a key part of the academic prospectus in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?
A Society That Puts Emphasis On Teenage Coping Skills
Let us manufacture a scenario for for the purpose of illumination. Let us imagine a society in which all individuals are taught how to achieve excellent coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their final year in high school.
In such a society, when life gets challenging, students who are ”coping skills experts” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more rewarding manner, as opposed to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to implement their coping skills.
Stated more precisely, students who exhibit superior coping skills will be more able to think proactively and show signs of quality decision making as opposed to teenagers who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to learn first-rate coping skills, are drawn to the “quick fix” of hazardous drinking.
What would happen in the above “ideal” society, moreover, if adolescents not only obtained top quality coping skills education but also obtained an exceptional education that underscored the short term and long term damaging outcomes associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more advanced coping skills training, it is asserted, would help adolescents steer clear of the obvious appeal correlated with adolescent drinking and, as a consequence, would significantly decrease the risky drinking behavior displayed by teenagers in our country.
Adolescent Risky Drinking: Conclusion
There are obviously various justifiable reasons why so many of our adolescents drink in a risky manner. Such a tricky predicament demands an all-inclusive and more meaningful preventative and educational response by our politicians, parents, educators, and students so that our adolescents can learn how to cope with life’s difficulties in a more rewarding and responsible manner instead of gravitating to injurious drinking behavior to solve their problems.
