Final Research Project

Running head: UNDERAGE DRINKING 1

UNDERAGE DRINKING 16

Underage Drinking

Mark Witham

GEN 499

Instructor Peter Kunze

Introduction

Underage drinking has been a great issue in our society and it is a risk that attracts young developing teenagers. College underage drinking continues to rise at a significant pace in the United States and the problem does not come from drinking, but the negative consequences it has on themselves, families, and community. Underage drinkers need to be protected from the hazards of drinking and the only way that this can be done is by investigating and getting a clear understanding of the effects of alcohol. The main purpose for submitting this research paper is to explore the statistical view of underage drinking, to analyze the significant risks associated with underage drinking, and discuss some tips on how individuals can play a part in helping to reduce underage drinking. Underage drinking could be reduced or alleviated if more parents and role models took time to speak to others about risk involved, consequences, and the dangers of underage drinking.

Statistical View of Underage Drinking

Underage drinking is one of the most common risks that play a major role with adolescents and teens alike. Alcohol has some serious damaging effects, but more importantly it can have a huge effect on lives, families, and the community. Underage drinking is not only illegal but it is a great public health problem. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is another branch that works in conjunction the National Institute of Health in the United States and its main purpose is to provide individuals with the awareness on alcohol abuse. This Institute consists of many doctor’s that work together in order to offer assistance to any underage individual. The main focus is to provide help for alcohol abusers, whether they are underage or of legal age.

The website provides many statistical views and facts on alcohol use in the United States. The statistics includes alcohol related deaths amongst the economy and the global burden, disorders, family consequences, and alcohol with college students. Some of the underage statistics include underage drinking widespread and that young people drink a lot. “According to the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 35.1 percent of 15-year-olds reports that they have had at least 1 drink in their lives” (NIAAA.gov, n.d). “The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism also states that 8.7 million people between the ages of 12-20 reports that they have drank alcohol in the past month, and with that being said the statistics show that males intake alcohol more often than females” (NIAAA.gov, n.d).

It is no surprise that alcohol is consumed daily, but the NSDUH showed that in 2013 binge drinking was a huge problem for individuals between the ages 12-20. For those young adults that were not participating in binge drinking does not mean that they are not consuming heavy amounts. That same study by the NSDUH in 2013 showed that “approximately 1.4 million people (about 3.7 percent) ages 12–20 engaged in heavy drinking” (NIAAA.gov, n.d). These statistics are supporting evidence that young people are consuming a lot of alcohol. With this much consumption taking place it is important to visit the next topic, risks of underage drinking.

Risks of Underage Drinking

Even though underage drinkers tend to drink less than adults, alcohol still affects an individual’s judgement. Drinking will also put themselves as well as others in harm’s way and can produce dangerous situations. It has been proven that underage drinkers are normally more susceptible to alcohol impairment than adults. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 21-year-old minimum drinking age laws have reduced alcohol traffic fatalities by 13 percent and have saved an estimated 28,765 lives since 1975” (ftc.gov, n.d.). Amitaya Dasgupta writes in The Science Of Drinking: How Alcohol Affects Your Body And Mind, that alcohol consumption affects the brain in severe and negative ways. The purpose of the book is to draw the needed attention to how our body reacts to high alcohol blood content (Dasgupta, 2011).

Dasgupta states that alcohol affects the human brain, particularly parts of the brain that provides individuals with relaxing, pleasure, loss of inhibition, and euphoria. How alcohol affect the brain is ultimately dependent on the alcohol level and drinking habits of the individual. Alcohol “causes a range of physical consequences, from hangovers to death from alcohol poisoning, suicide, homicide, and traffic crashes” (samhsa.gov, n.d.). Alcohol affects younger individuals differently than adults; they can interfere with the function and structure of the brain.

Underage alcohol consumption can cause not only short term but also long term consequences. “Adolescence is a time of life characterized by robust physical health and low incidence of disease, yet overall morbidity and mortality rates increase 200 percent between middle childhood and late adolescence/early adulthood” (Dahl, 2004).

Underage drinking has major negative consequences when it comes to college campuses. Unfortunately college students, administrators, and parents have the tendency to accept alcohol as a way of college campus life. “Negative consequences of alcohol on college campuses is serious, it is estimated that 1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes“ (Hingson & Heeren, Winter (2005). The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism show that alcohol affects not only the college students, but also the families of that student as well as the college communities. “Some of the risks with underage drinking include death, serious injuries, impaired judgment, increased risk for physical and sexual assault, brain development problems, academic problems, and health/suicide problems” (NIAAA.gov, n.d). See below for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism findings:

Death – Roughly 5,000 people that fall under the age of 21 die from alcohol related accidents. This includes car crashes, homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning, and other injuries such as falls, burns, and drowning. Each year 1,825 college students ranging from the age of 18-24 die from alcohol-related injuries.

Serious injuries – Roughly 190,000 underage drinkers visit the emergency room for injuries related to alcohol in 2008. The results were significantly higher with college students, increasing to 599,000 between the ages of 18-24.

Impaired judgement – Alcohol has cause poor decision making and can lead to risky behavior, these behaviors include sexual activity, drinking and driving, or violence.

Increased risk for physical and sexual assault – Alcohol is a contributing factor for the cause of physical and sexual assault. More than 97,000 college students between the ages 18-24 have been victims of sexual assault or date rape.

Brain development problems – Young adults do not finish brain development until an individual’s 20’s and alcohol can affect development.

Academic Problems: 25% of college students suffer academic consequences due to alcohol related instances. “This includes missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall” (NIAAA.gov, n.d).

Health Problems/Suicide Attempts: “More than 150,000 students develop an alcohol-related health problem and between 1.2 and 1.5 percent of students indicate that they tried to commit suicide within the past year due to drinking or drug use” (NIAAA.gov, n.d).

Why Underage College Students Drink

Studies show that young individuals have more than likely experimented with alcohol before even stepping foot into college. “The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has shown that not only do four out of five college students drink alcohol, but half of those individuals participate in binge drinking” (NIAAA.gov, n.d).. The “NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL” (NIAAA.gov, n.d). It is a common practice that underage students entering college are pressured to misuse alcohol and it has the tendency to intensify. There are many contributing factors that can cause college students to drink, this includes from parents being around less, exposure to different norms about alcohol use, peer pressure, stress, and social development.

When individuals enter college for the first time it is no big surprise and even somewhat expected that they will test limits pertaining to risk and discovering who they are. The reality to consider is that there are many cases where students have already had drinking problems well before they entered college. It is also very common that parents are unaware about their children’s drinking habits, and it is unfortunate for colleges because there is no screening process for students that are suffering from alcohol abuse. Most college students are searching for new companions and friends that can help them with school and provide them with support as they try to create an identity as a college student. There are many different variations that can occur with a college student and how they experience changes in college.

The key to reducing underage drinking is to understand why college students drink. So why do college students drink? Many students have noted that they tend to drink because alcohol makes it easier to meet other individuals. College students believe that drinking with other college students is a way to relax them in social inhabitation and it also helps them to have more fun. For others the case may be much deeper than that, some are faced with some psychological reasons, and alcohol assists them with dealing with these struggles. It is common for individuals to use alcohol as a substitute for healing, dealing with relationship struggles, self-esteem, and emotional issues. Another reason why college students tend to drink is because of peer pressure whether it is directly or indirectly.

Peer pressure is a “major factor in the development of risk-taking behaviors, especially when dealing with alcohol” (Lewis & Lewis, 1984). Other peers tend to act as influential models and unfortunately they also introduce risky activities to others. Most college students believe that introducing alcohol to other students is a positive and socially acceptable experience (Kinard & Webster, 2011). The most important thing that college students tend to forget is that when dealing with any alcohol, drug, or tobacco use there are significant consequences that will follow. There have been many studies that have been conducted to investigate why underage college students not only drink, but drink excessively.

Dodd Glassman conducted a study to understand why students liked to participate in high risk drinking. The study revealed that female college students that were actually of drinking age of 21 drank less than males (Glassman & Miller, 2010). The results showed that positive expectancy to alcohol use included things such as peer/influence and anxiety reduction. Glassman’s study shows that there are extreme negative consequences which is caused by drinking excessively and are normally conducted by college students. College students tend to seek for social approval from their peers. Another study that was conducted to compare data between individuals who were of legal age and individuals that was not of legal age.

That study concluded that students that were actually under the legal drinking age of 21 actually drank less than the individuals who were over 21. The findings did annotate that the individuals that were underage drinker tend to drink in excessive amounts (Wechsler, 2002). The data collected also showed that if a State had restrictions, the overall underage and binge drinking was lower. These finding are important merely because it shows that not all underage college students are drinking and with that being said, having more restrictions in college could ultimately lower statistical view of underage drinking.

How to Reduce Underage Drinking

It is obvious that underage drinking is a problem within the United States, so the important question to ask is what steps can be taking to help reduce it? There have been numerous approaches that have been developed in order to prevent underage drinking. These approaches range from schools getting actively creating curricula in order to prevent alcohol, to activities outside of schools. Communities have even created different approaches to help reduce any commercial or social access to underage drinkers. Like many issues, it is very important to develop effective programs that can contribute to preventing alcohol abuse amongst underage drinkers, but in order for that to take place individuals need to identify the meaning of alcohol abuse and underage drinking.

Bonnie O’connell brought to light that the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) lacked the support in dealing with youth drinking. Their main focus has been on drug abuse programs, supporting those programs 25 times more than funding underage drinking (O’connell, 2003). It wasn’t until Congress forced the HHS committee to develop a cost-effective strategy that would help reduce underage drinking. The results were that they had identified five potential goals that they needed to focus on to evaluate the effectiveness of producing a comprehensive strategy in order to prevent and reduce underage drinking.

Many researchers and clinician have developed approaches to assist with preventing underage drinking. In order for this to be effective they identified important characteristics of intervention strategies. Below is a section and table composed by design to summarize knowledge regarding “prevention approaches, including school, extracurricular, family, policy, and community strategies” (Komro & Toomey, (n.d.).

Key Components of Strategies to Prevent Underage Drinking

Type of Strategy	Key Components
School Strategies	· Based on behavioral theory and knowledge of risk and protective factors · Developmentally appropriate information about alcohol and other drugs · Development of personal, social, and resistance skills · Emphasis on normative education · Structured, broader-based skills training · Interactive teaching techniques · Multiple sessions over multiple years · Teacher training and support · Active family and community involvement · Cultural sensitivity
Extracurricular Strategies	· Supervision by positive adult role models · Youth leadership · Intensive programs · Incorporation of skills building · Part of a comprehensive prevention plan
Family Strategies	· Improvement of parent-child relations using positive reinforcement, listening and communication skills, and problem solving · Provision of consistent discipline and rulemaking · Monitoring of children’s activities during adolescence · Strengthening of family bonding · Development of skills · Involvement of child and parents
Policy/Community Strategies	· Excise taxes · Minimum legal drinking age of 21 · Citizen action to reduce commercial and social availability of alcohol

Note. Adapted from Strategies to Prevent Underage Drinking. Komro, K., & Toomey, T. (n.d.).

Even with these key components of strategies to prevent underage drinking, it will prove very difficult for these programs to reduce underage drinking. In order for these programs to work efficiently they need to be “combined with extracurricular, family, and, policy strategies that help change the overall social and cultural environment in which young people live to create sustained decreases in consumption and alcohol-related problems among youth” (Komro & Toomey, n.d.).

Underage drinking could be reduced or alleviated if more parents and role models took the time to speak to others about the consequences and dangers of underage drinking. Parents play a very important role in preventing and addressing underage drinking. Studies showed that “Parents who communicated and were involved with their children at ages 10 and 11, set clear expectations for their children’s behavior, practiced good supervision and consistent discipline, and minimized conflict in the family had children who, at ages 11 and 12, were more likely to see alcohol use as harmful and less likely to initiate alcohol use early. They were also less likely to misuse alcohol at ages 17 to 18” (taadas.org, n.d.)

Economic Impact of Underage Drinking

Underage drinking has some major impacts and it can cause some major health issues as well as affect the economy. Drinking can potentially cause harm to an individual’s future as well are ruin one’s ability to maintain a job. Underage drinking can lead to high risks of health problems, which can ultimately have an impact on the economy. For example, “The immediate consequences of underage drinking are estimated to include at least $8.4 billion of health care expenditures. These expenditures are due to underage drinking and represent a societal loss because societal resources have been diverted away from other valuable uses” (Hingson & Kenkel, 2004).

Principles of Active Citizenship and Underage Drinking

Active citizenship involves individuals that actively take responsibility for public concern and this can include prevention in crime as well as the local community. Currently parents play the more active role in managing underage drinking, but unfortunately with the problem increasing in the United States it is becoming more of community problem. Active citizens have tried to help the youth in our society and studies have shown that if young adults participate in more activities such as school, community, or extracurricular activities they are less likely to involve themselves in underage drinking. In some cases this is not an option for some young adults due to the fact that not all parents are financially able to place their children in activities.

When it pertains to underage drinking it is apparent that adults are a contributing factor in underage drinking. In our society, it is believed that adults and parents should help ensure that teenagers are not providing the means to get alcohol. This also includes not buying alcohol for underage drinkers. A hidden camera was place in a convenient store and it revealed that adults were buying alcohol for underage teenagers (Patel & Rosen, 2014). Another video that the pair created also captured a liquor store and individuals that posed as underage drinkers. The underage drinkers wanted to try to get adults to buy alcohol for them, and as the video shows they did succeed when a lady purchase the individuals eight beers. The woman was confronted and firmly believed that the underage drinkers would have gotten alcohol from someone whether or not she had purchased it or not.

Underage drinking ethics

Ethically, underage drinking is something that needs to be discouraged at all costs. The drinking age is getting younger every day and this is likely to have a negative impact on our future generation since most of them are likely to get stuck into alcohol. Underage drinking needs to be stopped and this will require that the necessary legislative pieces are enforced to ensure that the menace ends once and for all.

Conclusion

It has been very unfortunate that underage drinking such a significant problem in the United States and that out young developing teenagers tend to be attracted to alcohol. With college underage drinking statistics almost doubles those of underage drinkers, it is apparent that they need to be educated on the potential risks and affects that it has on them, families, and the community. The studies have proven that consuming alcohol is not only hazardous to the human body but dangerous as well. In today’ society it is important to remember that is not only the parent’s role to protect underage teens, but the community as a whole is responsible to help handle this issue. In order to reduce underage drinking we must investigate and have a clear understanding of the effects of alcohol. We have discovered what the cause and effects are to the body when consuming alcohol and identified significant steps that we can take to help reduce the underage drinking problem. The findings only prove that underage drinking could be reduced or alleviated if more parents and role models took the time to speak to others about the consequences and dangers of underage drinking.

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