Recent alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Quite a few alcohol addiction experts emphasize the point that beer, liquor, and wine advertisements created by the media are an essential reason for the proliferation of teen alcohol abuse.

Other chemical dependency consultants state that the increase in teenage alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and convenience of liquor, beer, and wine in our society.

Still other alcoholism consultants state that quite a few of our teenagers involve themselves in dangerous drinking due to the increased disquiet that they experience.

From a slightly different point of view, since both parents in many families are gainfully employed, the lack of parental supervision positively has to play a key role in the spread of teenage alcohol abuse. And lastly, a variety of chemical dependency consultants think that the expansion of youth alcohol abuse is due, to some extent, to our “anything goes” society.

Alcohol Abuse and Coping Skills

One aspect of youth alcohol abuse that seems to be lacking in the alcoholism research findings, in contrast, is the nonexistence of educational courses that teach adolescents how to enhance their coping skills so that their destructive drinking behavior is substantially lessened or eradicated.

Stated more explicitly, science has disclosed the fact that there is an indirect link between poor coping skills and hazardous drinking. In essence, this means that the more mediocre the coping skills, the greater the rate of alcohol abuse. To the extent that this is a correct contention, why isn’t coping skills training an important part of the academic prospectus in all of our high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools?

A Society That Accentuates Teenage Coping Skills

Let us construct a scenario for the purpose of explanation. Let us imagine a society in which all individuals are trained how to develop high-quality coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including the twelfth grade.

In such a society, when life gets complicated, students who are ”coping skills experts” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more rewarding way, contrary to others who are unsuccessful in their attempts to implement their coping skills.

Stated more precisely, students who display sound coping skills will be more able to think clearly and show signs of top-shelf decision making as opposed to teens who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to develop first-rate coping skills, gravitate to the “quick fix” of abusive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, moreover, if adolescents not only received top shelf coping skills education but also received an outstanding education that focused on the short term and long term devastating outcomes associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these types of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills education, it is emphasized, would help students stay away from the clear charm correlated with youth drinking and, for that reason, would notably lessen the dangerous drinking behavior shown by adolescents in our country.

Teenage Abusive Drinking: Conclusion

There are evidently scores of legitimate reasons why so many of our adolescents drink in a hazardous manner. Such a tricky subject demands a far-reaching and more applicable educational and preventative response by our educators, students, parents, and politicians so that our adolescents can learn how to cope with life’s predicaments in a more rewarding and responsible manner instead of resorting to risky drinking behavior to solve their problems.

Tags: alcohol abuse facts, teenage alcohol abuse, youth alcohol abuse