Underaged Drinking

"Alcohol remains the substance most widely abused by young people of America," said acting Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu. At least 11 million children are young drinkers with binge drinking close to 7 2 million of them, which means having more than five drinks per occasion. Moritsugu says we need a "change in culture and attitudes toward drinking in America." Although tobacco for minors and use of illicit drugs has declined over the years, alcohol remains a prevalent "rite of passage." However, "Research shows that youth who begin drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to have problems with alcohol later in life," warns Moritsugu.

Many parents face to find answers. Why is alcohol consumption for minors so attractive? Adolescence is a relatively long period of maturation where children are continually pushing their minds, bodies and boundaries to the limit. Many children enjoy the physical sensation of being "drunk" and their bodies are naturally more susceptible to negative effects of alcohol, like drowsiness, withdrawal or lack of coordination, which explains why binge drinking is so common later.

Some children drink cover behavior problems, antisocial tendencies, aggression, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem or shyness. Drinking while juveniles may be encouraged by genetic or environmental factors. According to the NIAAA, children whose parents are alcoholics are 4-10 times more likely to develop alcohol addiction.

Maybe we can fight against alcohol through more subtle social and economic changes. One theory suggests that advertising fosters a culture of drinking that children feel like "everybody does it" and that "no big deal." In the film G-rated nearly 50% of the characters were shown drinking without consequences, for example. The National Bureau of Economic Research published a report saying that the reduction or elimination of alcohol advertising significantly reduce minors and drinking.

They found that young children really enjoyed the Budweiser talking lizards and Spuds MacKenzie dog, colorful drinks and packaged as Smirnoff and Skyy Blue. From an economic standpoint, the "alcohol advertising and consumption of alcohol by teenagers working document" (Saffer and Dave) reported that doubling the price of minors drinking alcoholic beverages would decrease by 28% reduce excessive consumption of alcohol by 51%. "Advertising is one thing, but only the [prevalence of alcohol] itself is normalizing," said the NIH study peer pressure Chief Bruce Simons-Morton.

"Parents tend to see drinking and occasional binging as a rite of passage, rather than a deadly cycle of Russian roulette," Britain's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse study reported . About 5,000 miners have died in alcohol incidents including car accidents 1900, 1,600 homicides, 300 suicides and hundreds of other falls, burns and drowning.

As a community, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends that we increase the price of alcohol, increased zero tolerance laws, improving school based prevention programs, commit to law enforcement and to expand the treatment of family-based prevention programs /.