Abstract
Alcohol abuse among the adolescents and teenagers is a major issue affecting most societies today. More and more adolescents are getting involved with the consumption of alcohol with major consequences not only for the individuals but also for the society. Factors which leads to this phenomenon are largely embedded in the social system manifested in cognition and can be reduced through the education system since it affects the school going population.
Introduction
Various factors, both personal and environmental, seem to predispose adolescents and teenagers from being exposed to harm from alcohol consumption. Of the most powerful determinants, environmental factors have been identified as determining the pattern and level of use. Personal risk factors include the exposure and use of alcohol at an early stage in life, unhealthy or insufficient healthy bonding, non conventionality, deviant behavior, having a role model within or outside the family who drinks, pleasure seeking, low religiosity and self acceptance. There is also a marked difference between individuals experiencing their alcohol consumption at an early stage in life and those who have a well established harm from use.
There is both personal and interpersonal meaning to the use of alcohol and an essential set of values which cannot be distinguished from the perceived negative consequences and benefits associated with it. Alcohol consumption among the adolescents and teenagers occur as a result of various complex and interrelated factors which includes peers, social environment, advertising, self image and boredom (Mitchell, 1998. p 28). Mostly, the use of drugs is often associated with beneficial experiences which have the capacity to enhance socialization. These experiences are further associated with a change in the state of consciousness which stimulates the excitement for risk taking.
Factors which lead to excessive alcohol consumption among teenagers and adolescents
General Factors
In the United States, drinking is highly discouraged before adulthood. However, the popular culture has led to young people being introduced to alcohol at an earlier age, probably within the family in the context of meals and celebrations. This permissive and integrative approach to drinking is common in cultures with Mediterranean style of drinking. The drinking pattern of young people is generally determined by the overall drinking culture. For instance, young people within the Mediterranean culture are likely to drink than their counterparts in other regions. However, they are often less likely to engage in dangerous drinking habits unlike their Scandinavian counterparts (Nebbitt, 2007. p 77). These findings show that culture play an integral role in shaping drinking patterns for young people.
Other factors also help develop and shape young people’s attitude towards alcohol consumption. These factors mainly exist within the family since they largely depend on the general family attitude towards alcohol. Parents through their drinking habits may influence the young people to adopt the same habits since as a young person grows within the family, he or she learns what is acceptable from within it. For instance, in a family where one or both of the parents drink, there is a high likelihood of a child growing up within this set up to develop the habit of drinking. However, whether the habit harms the individual in future or not depends on several factors, mostly societal and cognitive.
In the development of drinking patterns, the structure of the family may be a risk or protective factor. Young people from strong family backgrounds in terms of support and close relationships are less likely to experience excessive drinking patterns than those who come from a loosely structured family. As such, parent supervision and support is important in putting in check the behavior of young people. Beyond this, there is also the influence of religion, peers and friends which play an integral part in influencing the decision of whether to drink or not.
Socio-psychological factors
Dynamisms in the family and peer relationships coupled with alterations in cognition and growth related to puberty play a major role in the onset and escalation of the use of alcohol. Between the ages of ten and fifteen, the youths begin to forge associations with their peers which in turn results in less time with the parents and families. At around these ages, the awareness of societal influence by the youths erodes their thought processes. Their processing of cultural messages as exhibited by the media and their peers becomes more or less like that of grown ups.
With regard to drinking, young people come to associate it with heroism and boldness which influences them to take up the habit. Early adolescents develop their thinking from the society and more so from observing the behavior of their peers (Gail, 2004 p14). The mass media influences the perception of the youths with regard to alcohol use since it displays scenes of adolescents engaging in drinking habits without suffering any negative consequences.
Alcohol use by the adolescents can also be attributed to changes which occur in the brain during this period of human development associated with neurocognitive functions which involve risk taking and decision making. With this regard, biological effects of puberty also influence alcohol use in early adolescence.
Behavioral changes in adolescents and teenagers due to alcohol consumption
Alcohol use among the young people and harmful behaviors in future may be predicted especially during adolescence. Teenagers involved with alcohol use are more likely to abuse them in the future than those who are not yet exposed. Evidence also indicates that the harmful and reckless alcohol use by the majority of young people is as a result of gradual development over time. Generally, increased responsibility reduces drug abuse patterns and hence young people should be informed through the education system on the dangers of drug abuse. In the adult perspective, drug abuse among the young people is associated with negative health consequences.
Since alcohol alters brain development among the teenagers and adolescents involved in its intake, their behaviors are bound to change. Teenagers who drink are likely to be violent towards their peers, not to mention lack of respect for their seniors (Wechsler, Lee, Nelson & Kuo, 2002 p 225-226). They are also more likely to be involved in criminal acts. Generally, alcohol consumption among teenagers and adolescents may be linked to juvenile delinquency.
Impact of alcohol consumption on education and future of adolescents and teenagers
Evidence show that repeated exposure to alcohol results in a persistent deficit in cognitive abilities among the adolescents (Graves, 2000 p 35). This influences their academic ability due to decreased capacity to learn and memorize. The result is that adolescents involved in alcohol consumption will most likely drop out of school which will in turn jeopardize their future. Research indicate that teenage alcohol use, especially when it can result into withdrawal when stopped, damage attention and memory which are the two most important abilities for reconciling the tasks of adolescents and facilitating successful transition into adulthood (Oesterle, S. et al 2004 p 205). These impairments result from alterations in the functions of the brain which may make it difficult for the youth to integrate into the learning system (National Institute of Health, 2003)
Methods used to prevent alcohol consumption in adolescents and teenagers
It is always very important to prevent the beginning of drug use among the teenagers since this is the period they experience major cognitive, social, biological and emotional changes which may influence their decision to take drugs. Prevention programs in the United States have demonstrated success with regard to reducing drug use. However, reviews of research on school based drug abuse prevention pointed towards variability in the extent of program effects.
The approach that has been proposed by researchers as a probably effective and appropriate intervention method is the community approach. These community approaches as a way of realizing positive changes in the lives of the young people target the entire community. Evidence suggests that that positive impact has been realized with regard to alcohol use through the adoption of community approaches. This is however inconclusive owing to lack of control groups and the use of poor evaluation methodology.
Individual approaches on the other hand focus on providing training for the development of self control skills at an individual level so as to bring about changes in the pattern of drug use. The skill training is often integrated with bicultural competence so as to equip the young people with coping skills which will enable them to negotiate between the popular culture and native cultures. This increases the sense of self efficacy in both cultures. Evidence from research supports this bicultural approach. From research findings, young people who acquired culturally-sensitive skills training exhibited positive change with regard to drinking behaviour.
The strategy which is widely adopted to combat drug misuse combines both enforcement and prevention approaches. Because of the complexity of the drinking problem, the approach incorporates partnership between government departments, agencies and groups in planning and delivering programs. The strategy focuses on four targets which include community, young people, availability and treatment. Its purpose is to help young people resist drug abuse so they may achieve full potential (Poth, Greenberg & Turrisi, 2008). Its key objective is to decrease the number of adolescents and teenagers who report illegal drug use within the past months and previous years. The goal was to be accomplished through introducing drug education in schools. It also targeted drug prevention programs which focus on the young people exposed to risk.
The preferred approach to handling drug related issues within the context of education has been school drug education. Even though part of a community or a comprehensive national approach, the empirical benefits from these school programs has been limited as much as there have been high expectations of successful outcomes (Shannon, 2005 p 117). Information concerning drugs and alcohol use is often provided by education departments which also carry out sessions of discussion, decision making and skill building programs. Interventions which sometimes are conducted by personnel of divergent backgrounds and experience are sometimes one-off. There is a general notion that the efforts of these drug education programs are not effective in either delaying or preventing use. As such, they fail to identify and address the associated problems and needs of the young people. (Komro & Toomey 2002 p 8).
Various efforts have been made at state and national levels within the United States to address school drug education exhaustively. The United States’ National Initiatives in Drug Education project through integrated information strategy was focused on promoting the importance of drug education in schools. This it does through targeting teachers, principals, administrators and the entire community. It also aims at providing teachers and parents with knowledge necessary in assisting the schools and the communities to tackle the issue of drugs in an integrated and sustainable way. Various departments in states within the United States have achieved specialized and complementary approaches to the drug problem.
Health Promoting Schools framework has also been identified as effective in addressing alcohol, drug and other health related issues in the United States. Through providing complementary health practices and policies, the classroom health and learning experiences have been reinforced in schools within this network. The key elements include incorporating social, mental, physical and environmental aspects of health. It also involves the development of a detailed school health curriculum, close parental cooperation, increased participation by the students and staff in policy development and decision making and support for health promoting programs by all the parties involved.
Conclusion
It is the responsibility of every family and learning institution to consider its response to drugs and alcohol use among teenagers and adolescents. The main purpose of drug education is to prepare pupils for healthy and informed choices when it comes to drugs and drug abuse. Expectations on how drug education affects schools are often high just like those of social, personal and health education. These expectations are centered on increasing knowledge, changing attitudes and enhancing skills. As such, these targets are difficult to achieve when they are exclusively centered on the schools.
It has been observed that the quality of drug education provisions in schools is improving. The planning of drug education programs has been improved with many schools in a better position to handle alcohol related problems and incidences. As much as schools, through drug education programs, enable pupils to acquire knowledge on drugs and their effects, friends and families also play an important role.
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