Underage Drinking

Underage drinking is, in fact, a huge problem in the world these days. Underage drinking is someone that is not of legal age, which is any age under 21, drinking alcohol. Kids should be hanging out with their friends, doing their homework, studying for tests, and playing games; they should not be drinking alcohol. The worst part is that they are getting alcohol from their parents, someone else that is of legal age, or even buying alcohol themselves. They see alcohol advertisements everywhere and think that drinking alcohol is the cool thing to do, or they get peer pressured into drinking.

Children today are more exposed to alcohol advertisements than ever before. Alyssa Bindman, writer of The Nation’s Health, tells us that, “According to a recent Rand study, children as young as 11 or 12 who are exposed to alcohol marketing are more likely to use alcohol or plan to use alcohol.” Children age 11 or 12 in my opinion should not be drinking alcohol at all. I’m not sure that advertisements have a whole lot to do with underage drinking, but I know that it doesn’t help to see them everywhere. “The study found that children with the highest levels of marketing exposure were 50 percent more likely to drink and 36 percent more likely to intend to drink a year later compared to children with little exposure to alcohol ads” (Bindman). Advertisements really have a huge impact on the actions of adolescents. Advertisements are everywhere, on billboards, on the side of buses, on television, on the radio, in grocery stores and gas stations, even on clothing. Kids are seeing alcohol at games and things like that so they think that alcohol is associated with entertainment. Children see their parents drinking or even some of their friends so they think that it would be cool to drink alcohol themselves. Adolescents really do not understand that drinking alcohol has negative effects. According to American Medical News,

Research indicates that early alcohol use and abuse impacts brain development. Moreover, adolescent drinkers perform worse in school, are more likely to fall behind and have an increased risk of social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts and violence. Other studies have found that kids who begin drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life.

All of this could lead to adolescents getting bad grades in school, skipping school or just not going to school, which would most likely prevent them from graduating high school. They could also be wounded, or worse, in an alcohol related vehicle crash as well if they are not careful. According to Campus Crime, “It costs the United States $62.6 billion annually in deaths, injuries, property damage, and related economic and productivity losses. Illegal alcohol consumption by underage individuals led to 3,212 deaths and 2.4 million other harmful events in the lives of families and citizens in 2001.” These are not good numbers to see when it comes to deaths and money for deaths, injuries, and damage. Parents need to be involved with their children and they need to know what their children are doing. Also according to American Medical News, “Underage drinking is a factor in nearly half of all teen automobile crashes. About 11 million Americans younger than 21 drink. Nearly half drink to excess — consuming five or more drinks in a row, one or more times in a two-week period. Studies also show that kids often have their first taste before age 12. By 18, more than 70% have had a drink.” Kids are drinking way too early and I believe a lot of the problem is probably the children’s parents. A lot of parents these days are letting their children do whatever they want to do including drinking alcohol. They believe that if they let their children drink at home they will only drink at home and not at their friends’ house or while driving around. I believe that some might actually only drink at home, but most of them will drink elsewhere, act foolish, and get themselves hurt. There needs to be something done to prevent underage teens from drinking, like making sure that parents lock their alcohol up in a closet, making sure that people that are of age do not buy alcohol for them, or even talking to teens about how drinking alcohol is not a good idea. There are ways to prevent teenagers from buying alcohol on their own. We may have solved a portion of the problem.