Introduction
Underage drinking contributes numerous health related and social problems among the society. This paper presents the relation between alcohol and sexual assault among adolescents and health problems. The reports of the various studies say that 50% of the sexual assault among adolescents is due to the influence of alcohol. It results physical injuries, fights, road accidents, drowning etc. Alcoholism is the major cause of health problems among American teenagers. It increases the vulnerability of poor academic performance, disturbance in the behavior and profession. Overconsumption of alcohol causes for depression, antisocial personality disorder, neurological problem, cancer, heart diseases and liver problems.
Alcohol and sexual assault among youth
Consumption of alcohol is a major cause for the sexual assault among adolescents. It is said that half of the sexual assaults happen due to alcohol use. Sexual assault means the way of doing unwanted sexual contact by means of violent or non-violent patterns. Sexual assault is becoming a common problem among college girls and studies show that one out of five college girls have undergone sexual assault during their college time. Most of the cases are related to alcohol consumption. A study was conducted to find out the relation between alcohol and sexual assault among middle school children. “Findings from the study indicate that alcohol was involved in approximately 12%-20% of the assault cases, depending on age and gender of the respondent. For females, the presence of alcohol during assault differed significantly based on the location at which the assault occurred, ranging from 6% (at the survivor’s home) to 29% (at parties or someone else’s home).” (Amy, Melissa, Antonia, Carol, & Sean, 2008, Resume/abstract.para.1).
Another study was conducted to assess the role of alcohol in sexual assault, taking samples from community and college students. “It is estimated that in half of assault cases, the perpetrator had consumed alcohol (Coid, 1986; Johnson et al., 1978) or that victims had consumed alcohol (Abbey et al., 1998; Harrington and Leitenberg, 1994; Presley et al., 1997).” (Amy, Grey, Antonia, Carol, & Sean, 2008, para.2). More researchers are of the opinion that one to two-third sexual assault among college students and teenagers are due to underage drinking. There are various studies to highlight this fact. A survey was conducted among South Western University and the result shows that 53% of sexual assault perpetrators had used alcohol at the time of brutal activity. A survey conducted in Colorado University shows 100% of alcohol influence in the sexual assault.
Health problems and alcohol among adolescents
Suicide is becoming a major problem among American teenagers and alcohol is one of the contributing factors for it. “The epidemic increase in the suicide rate among youth may be associated with an increase in the prevalence of alcohol abuse.” (Kusserow, 1992, p.4). Accidents like drowning, road accidents are major problems among teenagers and adolescents. Studies indicate that 40% to 50% teenagers had taken alcohol before drowning. “In a national survey, college administrators estimated that student alcohol use leads to 69 percent of damage to residence halls, 34 percent of academic problems, and 25 percent of dropouts.” (Kusserow, 1992, p.5).
There are more health problems among teenagers which are reported in connection with alcohol. More often, alcohol related sexual assault results in physical injuries and physical force. It is estimated that 75,000 youth die each year in US due to excessive consumption of alcohol. Alcohol is responsible for 41% of motor vehicle accident deaths among youth. Behavioral changes in undesired manner, fights between others, problems in the profession, poor academic performance etc can be result of consumption of alcohol. Cancer, problems in the liver, heart related diseases, neurological problem, depression and antisocial personality disorder are some of the diseases that can be contributed by the use of alcohol. It increases the risks of HIV because the teenager will have casual sex without using condom since he is intoxicated. These are the major health problems related to alcohol consumption among youth.
Conclusion
The use of alcohol among youth contributes to major problems in the society. There are numerous unrecognized consequences of underage drinking such as health problems and social problems. Studies show that leading factor to sexual assault among teenagers and college students is excessive consumption of alcohol.
Reference
Amy, Y., Melissa, G., Antonia, A., Carol, J B., & Sean, E M. (2008). “Alcohol- related sexual assault victimization among adolescents: prevalence, characteristics, and correlates: Resume/abstract”. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 69(1), 39-48. Cat Inist. Web.
Amy, Y., Grey, M., Antonia, A., Carol, J B., & Sean, E M. (2008). “Alcohol- related sexual assault victimization among adolescents: prevalence, characteristics, and correlates”. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. BNET. Web.
Kusserow, R P. (1992). Youth and alcohol: Dangerous and deadly consequences: Suicide. Department of Health Human Services: Office of Inspector General. 4. Web.
Kusserow, R P. (1992). Youth and alcohol: Dangerous and deadly consequences: campus related problems. Department of Health Human Services: Office of Inspector General. 5. Web.