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Youth Alcohol Abuse: A Serious Problem

Recent alcohol abuse statistics demonstrate the fact that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Many chemical dependency professionals stress the point that beer, liquor, and wine ads constructed by the media are an important reason for the spread of teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcohol abuse consultants believe that the increase in youth alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and ease of access of liquor, beer, and wine in our society.

Still other alcohol dependency specialists emphasize the point that more than a few of our young people engage in abusive drinking due to the increased pressure that they go through.

From a somewhat different viewpoint, since both parents in many families work full or part-time, the lack of parental supervision obviously has to play a key role in the escalation of youth alcohol abuse. And last but not least, an assortment of alcohol dependency professionals think that the increase in teen alcohol abuse is due, in some measure, to our lenient society.

Coping Skills Training and Abusive Drinking

One component of teen alcohol abuse that appears to be poorly reported in the alcohol dependency research results, nonetheless, is the paucity of educational programs that teach teenagers how to upgrade their coping skills so that their destructive drinking behavior is significantly diminished or eradicated.

Stated another way, science has displayed the fact that there is an indirect association between poor coping skills and excessive drinking. In essence, this means that the poorer the coping skills, the greater the rate of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a truthful declaration, why isn’t coping skills training a primary part of the educational core curriculum in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?

A Society That Highlights Adolescent Coping Skills

Let us create a scenario for illustrative purposes. Let us imagine a society in which all people are taught how to achieve sound coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including the twelfth grade.

In such a society, when life gets demanding, individuals who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more rewarding manner, as opposed to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to put their coping skills into action.

Stated differently, students who exhibit sound coping skills will be more able to think clearly and show signs of top-shelf decision making as opposed to teenagers who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement quality coping skills, are drawn to the “quick fix” of excessive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, furthermore, if young people not only obtained exceptional coping skills instruction but also got an exclusive education that stressed the long term and short term negative consequences associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills education, it is pronounced, would help students avoid the clear charm interlinked with teen drinking and, therefore, would drastically decrease the harmful drinking behavior demonstrated by adolescents in our country.

Teen Risky Drinking: Conclusion

There are indubitably many legitimate reasons why so many of our adolescents abuse alcohol. Such a thorny issue demands an all-inclusive and more pertinent educational and preventative response by our educators, parents, politicians, and students so that our teens can learn how to cope with life’s problems in a more fruitful and accountable manner rather than gravitating to dangerous drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.

In his great fitness book Mike Geary, author of Truth About Six Pack Abs explains how alcohol can really ruin an otherwise sound workout and nutrition program. Check out Girlwithnoname’s review of this awesome eBook here:

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