The Article that I am writing my report about is from CNN. It basically says that alcoholism is becoming a bigger problem with teens. Teens are starting to drink at earlier ages, and it is proven that they are at more risk for addiction the earlier they start to drink. Alcohol is abused heavily by teenagers across the nation. As teens grow older alcohol becomes easier and easier to obtain, and therefor their alcoholism gets worse and worse. Studys show that most teens have had at least one drink. But most teens dont just have one.
Alcohol is the most widely used and abused drug among youth. It kills more teenagers than all drugs combined. Seven million kids under 18 live in alcoholic homes and about one-fourth of them will become alcoholics. The average age to start drinking alcohol is 13. Peer pressure is one of the main causes of this. 90% of kids who get caught drinking say that they just did it to impress their friends. In 1998 an estimated one in five teenagers were current drinkers and one in thirteen teenagers were binge drinkers. A survey was conducted with 4,390 high school seniors and dropouts and it proved that 80% reported getting drunk,
Nearly 4 million young people suffer from alcohol dependence. People who begin drinking before 15 are four times as likely to develop alcohol dependence and twice as likely to develop alcohol abuse than those who wait until 21 to drink.Adolescent girls who are heavy drinkers are more likely than boys to say they drink to escape problems or because of frustration or anger. Teenage girls who drink heavily are 5 times more likely to engage in sexual intercourse.
Between the ages of 12-14 kids tend to believe that the positive benefits of drinking alcohol, such as feeling good and fitting in with peers, become more likely to occur than feeling sick and having health problems afterwards. They also believe that drinking will give them greater social acceptance.
The majority of 12-16 year old adolescents are light drinkers. But although only light drinkers there have been problem behaviors reported. About 4.4% said they have tried to hurt or kill themselves and 7.9% have thought about suicide. The criminal behavior report for light drinkers said that 29.5% got in a physical fight, 4.9% were on probation, 9.9% had been arrested and 6.3% had driven under th
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