Teenagers and alcohol abuse
Why has teenage drinking increased so dramatically and at times so dangerously in recent years?
If it is because our children have low self-esteem, lack of social confidence or have some other deep seated psychological issues, then obviously the underlying cause must be found and dealt with.
For the majority of teenage carousers however, it isn’t anything serious- it’s just those ever present favourite motivators for nearly all teenage behaviour, ‘having a laugh’, appearing ‘cool’ and being quite incapable of predicting consequences.
We can tell them until we are blue in the face that getting drunk is dangerous, leads to road accidents (pedestrians as well as drivers) leads to people doing all sorts of things that they’ll be embarrassed about for a long time to come and for girls can often be a factor in rape or sexual assault, but they are unlikely to pay much attention.
As usual, the tactic which won’t work is a lecture on irresponsible behaviour. Instead, as a parent, try to think laterally:
Do they want to have fun, be silly, and let their hair down? How about a day at a theme park, Laser Quest, a visit to a horse or dog track, quad biking, abseiling?
Do they want to feel adult and sophisticated? How about cocktails with all the trimmings but no alcohol? How about a group of parents laying on a party with great dance tracks?
It is often suggested that allowing children a small amount of alcohol at home (the French wine and water model) can help de-glamorize later drinking at clubs. A good PSHE programme at school should give teenagers plenty to think about as well as some hard information on the contents of alco-pops and the potentially lethal effect of vodka and Red Bull, et al.
If real shock tactics are called for, you could make them stay sober at one party where everyone else is drinking, or video them whilst under the influence themselves. It’s not funny on the day afterwards.
Getting drunk is not a phenomenon that is new to the present generation and making mistakes is part of growing up; but we must try to protect our youngsters against making mistakes which could affect their lives permanently.
As in my comments on another article, I respond to your mention about the ‘French wine and water model.
One of the unexpected main reasons why teenage drinking has become a national problem is because parents and schools have, through poor advice given in the past, been labouring under the misapprehension that early supervised parental introduction to drinking (under 16) results in so-called ‘sensible drinking’. A myth still persists that introducing children under the age of sixteen to alcohol earlier prevents heavy drinking and alcoholism later. While many believe that children benefit from the role-modelling and restraint displayed at the family dinner table, they perhaps have not considered the biochemical processes at work. A new generation of good research now finds that exposure to alcohol before sixteen years of age is actually more likely to increase the chances of a child becoming a heavy drinker. The teenage brain is very malleable and changes quickly in response to new influences; early exposure may ‘prime’ the brain to enjoy alcohol by creating a link between it and pleasurable reward. The same is true with nicotine. It seems that by trying to help our children resist over-indulgence with alcohol, we may inadvertently be switching on genes that affect susceptibility to alcohol addiction.
Dr Aric Sigman.
For further information, see http://www.jonnieleach.com/presentations/aric/about.html