Teenage Drinking In America Essay Research Paper

Teenage Drinking In America Essay, Research Paper Teenage Drinking in America Teenagers are America?s greatest natural resource, and they need to be protected from some of the evils that lurk in the world. A subject that needs special attention is the abuse of alcohol by teens. Statistics show that there is a problem currently between teens and alcohol. There are many causes of teenage drinking and effects that prove that drinking is an important issue that needs to be dealt with to preserve American teenagers. Teenage drinking will become worse of a problem if it continues unchecked on its current path to destruction. Alcohol abuse among teenagers in the United States is a plague that is destroying the structure of American society. Statistics show that there certainly is a

problem with teens and alcohol in America. Half of the teenage deaths in America are in some way influenced by alcohol (DUI Statistics 1). One of the largest causes of teenage deaths is automobile accidents that are related to alcohol. On average, eight teenagers die every day in America because of a driver that is intoxicated. In the next ten years twenty-four percent more automobile accidents will be caused by teenagers between the ages of fifteen and seventeen (Los Altos Town Crier 1). Drinking in excess is the cause of one hundred thousand deaths per year in America. Eleven thousand of these one hundred thousand deaths are alcohol-induced murders. Eight thousand deaths are suicides and cancer accounts for seventeen thousand deaths. Strokes caused by alcohol kills around nine

thousand people per year (Doyle 1). Mike Barnicle from the Boston Globe best states America?s problem in his October seventh column, ?In the course of a normal day, alcohol absolutely ruins more American families and destroys more individual lives than a whole warehouse of filter tips? (1). There are many reasons why teenagers get involved with alcohol in the first place. There are some complex causes to teenage drinking. There are social, emotional, and physical causes that influence teens to drink alcohol. The most prevalent cause of teenage drinking is peer pressure. Every problem has a beginning, where the domino effect starts. In most cases people get started drinking not because they like it, but because it is illegal and it gives them a chance to rebel. The so-called

?rebel? becomes bored of drinking alone and eventually seeks ?company? when they are drinking. The only catch is that the ?rebel? can not be the only one drinking so the ?company? has to drink. This is where the problem with peer pressure and teenage drinking begins and the first domino starts the chain reaction. There are two types of peer pressure. There is direct peer pressure where a subject?s peers actually force him into having a drink. There is also indirect peer pressure where the subject enters a setting and his peers are drinking so he decides to have a drink to fit in with the rest of his peers (Articles-Teenage Drinking 2). Surveys show that alcohol abuse is related to teenage activities such as going on dates and going to parties (Teenage Alcohol Misuse 2). Teens

have emotional reasons for drinking alcohol. Teens choose to drink to relax and allow their bodies to unwind after a stressful day. Teenagers also choose drinking as a way to escape the harsh realities of the world such as, problems at home and pressure caused by school (Articles-Teenage Drinking 1). There are several physical causes that explain why teenagers drink alcohol and become dependent on it. Some people are born with low levels of endorphins in their body, so they drink alcohol to get the feelings that the endorphins produce. Endorphins are substances that closely resemble morphine; they produce a feeling of well being (World Book-Blum 1). Another physical cause of teenage drinking involves genetics. Research has provided theories that teenagers could have a natural