Recent alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? More than a few alcoholism specialists state that wine, liquor, and beer ads created by the media are a primary reason for the rise in teen alcohol abuse.
Other chemical dependency consultants state that the increase in teen alcohol abuse is due to the toleration and ease of access of wine, beer, and liquor in our society.
Still other alcohol abuse consultants articulate that more than a few of our teenagers engage in destructive drinking because of the increased stress that they feel.
From a slightly different viewpoint, due to the fact that both parents in a number of families work full or part-time, the lack of parental guidance evidently has to play a major role in the increase in teen alcohol abuse. And as a final point, various alcohol addiction experts believe that the proliferation of teenage alcohol abuse is due, in some degree, to our lenient society.
Coping Skills Training and Hazardous Drinking
One facet of adolescent alcohol abuse that appears to be lacking in the alcohol dependency research literature, in contrast, is the lack of educational courses that teach teens how to augment their coping skills so that their injurious drinking behavior is drastically lessened or gotten rid of.
Stated differently, science has disclosed the fact that there is an indirect relationship between poor coping skills and excessive drinking. In effect, this means that the poorer the coping skills, the greater the prevalence of alcohol abuse. To the degree that this is a valid proclamation, why isn’t coping skills education a significant part of the educational curriculum in all of our elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools?
A Society That Stresses Teenage Coping Skills
Let us construct a scenario for illustrative purposes. Let us imagine a society in which students are taught how to achieve good coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their final year in high school.
In such a society, when life gets challenging, individuals who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more productive manner, contrary to others who fail to apply their coping skills.
Stated another way, students who display high-quality coping skills will be more able to think logically and exhibit superior decision making as opposed to students who, because they lack top quality coping skills, are attracted to the “quick fix” of hazardous drinking, alcohol abuse, and teenage alcoholism.
What would happen in the above “ideal” society, furthermore, if teens not only got exceptional coping skills training but also obtained a first class education that stressed the short term and long term negative results associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Such an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills instruction, it is affirmed, would help adolescents keep away from the noticeable appeal associated with teenage drinking and, as a consequence, would radically reduce the dangerous drinking behavior demonstrated by the youth in our country.
Youth Hazardous Drinking: Room for Hope, Optimism, and Success and the Need for Strong Relationships, Leadership, and Parenting
There are indubitably quite a few convincing reasons why so many of our teenagers drink in a harmful manner. Such a thorny subject matter, if hope, success, and optimism are to be realized, demands a comprehensive and more applicable preventative and educational response by our politicians, educators, students, and parents so that our adolescents can learn how to cope with life’s difficulties in a more productive and responsible manner rather than gravitating to harmful drinking behavior to solve their problems. In a word, relevant relationships, parenting, and leadership are needed for such a thorny issue such as teen alcohol abuse.
