Why Underage Drinking Is Bad
There’s a New York Times article recently called The Grim Neurology of Teenage Drinking which discusses the physical problems that can be caused by drinking at an early age. Alcohol apparently damages developing young brains significantly more than it does adult brains. Moreoever, early drinking seems to foster alcoholism:
The new findings may help explain why people who begin drinking at an early age face enormous risks of becoming alcoholics. According to the results of a national survey of 43,093 adults, published yesterday in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 47 percent of those who begin drinking alcohol before the age of 14 become alcohol dependent at some time in their lives, compared with 9 percent of those who wait at least until age 21. The correlation holds even when genetic risks for alcoholism are taken into account.
In light of the drinking that goes on at Cornell and other universities, the article is probably a worthwhile read. While just one source isn’t going to act as a preventative for the next Matt Pearlstone, it might help students moderate their drinking habits.
I’ll leave you with one last salient quotation:
“There is no doubt about it now: there are long-term cognitive consequences to excessive drinking of alcohol in adolescence,” said Aaron White, an assistant research professor in the psychiatry department at Duke University and the co-author of a recent study of extreme drinking on college campuses.
| This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 2:52 pm and is tagged with drinking on college campuses, assistant research professor, adult brains, cognitive consequences, york times article, adolescent medicine, psychiatry department, aaron white, genetic risks, drinking alcohol, enormous risks, duke university, excessive drinking, teenage drinking, matt pearlstone, new york times, national survey, no doubt, alcoholics, alcoholism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
26 Responses to “Why Underage Drinking Is Bad”
Leave a Reply
Excellent point, and the age that teens start drinking seem to get younger and younger. For some relevant anecdotes that are especially for girls – because young girls are not giving up underage drinking as fast as their male classmates – check out http://www.girlsanddrinking.org.
Drinking isn’t bad!!! It help teens and others meet new people at parties and other gatherings where drinking is going on
alchohol is an abusive substance. i think mainly why teens drink is to look cool in front of everyone.i got drunk at school recently for thinking it was “cool” well i was wrong. i was so drunk i couldnt walk straight or speak correctly. after that i had a major headache. my best friends didnt want to talk to me anymore because of that. i drank with 5 guys. ( extremely bad choice.)
dear zack, drinking is horrible! get this through your head!!! drinking is an abusive substance. teens drink to either look cool or to get peoples attention.
drinking gets you the wrong kind of friends. belive me. you dont want that kind of attention to be brought on to you. it causes pain and misery and drama. hope u understand.
im going through all of this right now.
yes
drinking is very bad!!
very very very very very very very very very very very BAD!!
it kills you and your brain cells!!
HEH HEH
Love Polly Poo
drinking is very bad 4 u cause you can get hurt when you drink its not a very thing to do especially when you young
yes my friend drinks well hes kinda stopping but its VERY VERY VERY badd!!
eeeeee drinkings isnt bad
Yall are ***, drinkin is fine!!
u r so out of control. im going through hell right now because i got drunk at school. im owning up to my responsibilities and dealing with the consiquences. im getting help. i made a huge mistake and i want to fix it.
man your a ***** no one wants to here bout your problems drinkin ant bad its fine to have fun some times come on would u rather ppl get high and drive our drink and drive my point id rather smoke and drive
it depends on how you drink…… whos drinking…. how responsible you are.
i total agree im using this sight for homework and i agree strongly
drinking is very horrible. i personally dont aggree with those people who think it is ok or cool to do it. if u r those people, u should b ashamed of urselves!
i think drinking is bad for you and you can even die. trust me we found out our selfs and faced the consiquenses.
hi my name is madeline. i am doing a project on underage drinking and how it kills. do you know anything?
by the way, i am in 8th grade and i am 13 yrs. old!
~thanks~
hi. u can interveiw me for ur project. im 13 i am an underaged drinker and this is my story.
i was at school on a monday. hanging out with my bff bri. i went up to see what all the comotion was by the wrestling room. i found 4 of my guy friends handing off a clear bottle. in it was ” love vodka.” i drank some to look cool. i personally consumed about half of the bottle in two big gulps. yes it smelt and tasted horrible. i went to 3rd period drunker than ever. i was walking funny i couldnt talk right and i kept passing out in class. i regret everything i have done. my name is ray lynn. im getting help from the rehab center and i will be better soon.
good luck on this project. look at my mistakes and dont risk it. live long and forever, dont drink.
its not bad its good **** all u wana be fake *** ******* who cant drink
i love drinking it the most fun thing in the world and im only 16 theres nothing wrong with it as long as ur being safe
I think that people who are under the age of 21 and are drinking alcohol are extremely naive. underage drinking is bad and the sooner that teens/young adults realize this, the sooner that they will stop drinking. in reply to zack’s comment, I don’t think teens drink just to meet new people, that’s seriously rediculous if you believe that,teens drinks just for the sake of being drunk. they drink because they know everyone else is drinking and they don’t want to feel like the odd one out. A perfect example of this is if you look in the upper right hand you’ll see that Matthew pearlstone was not found drunk, but he was found dead. It’s sad that young people don’t take this issue seriously because it’s true, drinking alcohol can eventually kill you.
i strongly agree with what you have said. i am an underaged drinker and man oh man do i regret what i did. thank you for your advice. together we can make a difference in teens all over the world.
it aight as long as u r safe wit it. dont b doin stupid stuff when ur drunk and it cool
no. you shouldnt drink at all if you arent old enough. trust me im an underaged drinker and it aint safe dude.
das where ur insane yo, keep yo head up and make da right choices if ya wanna be cool.
peace!
I think some teen’s out there should stop drinking like if they have kid’s what kid’s well see kid’s will do so if you see this PLEASE stop drinking for your kid’s sake when you drink infront of your kid’s your just hurting kid’s from drinking so please please PLEASE stop drinking…..
13…
my parents have a bar
my friends come over
we get drunk
we have fun.. we cant drive so obviously we arent going drunk driving
uhmm its pretty cool…
i like shots of absolute vodka maybe grey goose
that **** is hard to find im not gonna lie
expensive fun
i think grey gouse is easy to find and ya that **** gets me wasted its not bad to do it some time just when the party gets busted and u here cops jump out the back window our door and be gone