Teenage Drinking Habits

Teenage Drinking Habits

Alcohol is the predominant drug in our society. It is on every street corner, in

most homes, and is heavily advertised to young adults. Many teenagers mimic this

behavior to gain a sense of maturity or a feeling of rebellion in a period of life that creates

identity.

Unfortunately, the actions of these teens who choose to drink can have dire

consequences. Many of those consequences are involved with vehicles: Cars, youth, and

booze are a dangerous combination that causes over 2000 deaths yearly in people under

twenty one. Another danger is alcohol poisoning. It is where an individual consumes an

excessive amount of alcohol in a short amount of time, causing the body’s functions to

slow. Therefore, the heart rate, gag reflex, and breathing is effected and can cause one to

fall into a coma, stopped breathing, gag on their own vomit and or stop a heart commonly

followed by death. This is an often occurrence in most “house” parties, where other teens

will be preoccupied with their own consumption that they become oblivious to their

fellow drinker and not take action once the drinker has passed out. It is common for

many teenage drinkers to fall out of consciousness continued with vomiting and careless

actions. This negligence, lack of knowledge of emergency situations and lack of maturity

creates environments that can result in tragedy.

Another extreme facet of drinking has recently been discovered in underage

groups. That is binge drinking. Binge drinking is defined as drinking a large volume of

alcohol in a very short period of time. This is estimated around five drinks in a row

multiple times in a two week period.