Adolescent Alcohol Abuse: A Difficult Issue, The Need For Compelling Parenting And Leadership, And Providing Coping Skills Training And Stress Management Classes For Our Teens

Recent alcohol abuse statistics demonstrate the fact that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Numerous substance abuse professionals assert that alcohol advertisements generated by the media are a major reason for the escalation of teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcohol addiction consultants argue that the increase in adolescent alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and accessibility of liquor, beer, and wine in our society.

Still other alcoholism consultants emphasize the point that many of our young people engage in alcohol abuse because of the increased stress that they face.

From a somewhat different point of view, because both parents in many families work full or part-time, the lack of parental supervision definitely has to play a significant role in the rise in adolescent alcohol abuse. And lastly, a variety of alcohol abuse professionals state that the spread of adolescent alcohol abuse is due, at some level, to our laissez-faire society.

Alcohol Abuse and Coping Skills Education

One aspect of youth alcohol abuse that looks like it is poorly reported in the chemical dependency research findings, nonetheless, is the dearth of educational programs that teach students how to augment their coping skills so that their injurious drinking behavior is substantially reduced or done away with.

Stated more explicitly, scientific research has displayed the fact that there is an indirect association between poor coping skills and abusive drinking. In essence, this means that the poorer the coping skills, the greater the frequency of alcohol abuse. To the degree that this is a correct allegation , why isn’t coping skills education an essential part of the educational curriculum in all of our junior high schools, elementary schools, and high schools?

A Society That Puts Emphasis On Teenage Coping Skills

Let us manufacture a scenario for descriptive purposes. Let us imagine a society in which all people are taught how to develop first rate coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including the twelfth grade.

In such a society, when life gets stressful, people who are ”coping skills experts” will be able to respond in a healthier and more successful manner, as opposed to others who fail to execute their coping skills.

Stated another way, students who reveal superior coping skills will be more able to think clearly and demonstrate top quality decision making as opposed to adolescents who, because they lack outstanding coping skills, are attracted to the “quick fix” of hazardous drinking, alcohol abuse, and teenage alcoholism.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, additionally, if young people not only received exclusive coping skills training but also received an outstanding education that stressed the long term and short term devastating consequences associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these types of drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills training, it is affirmed, would help students steer clear of the clear appeal correlated with teen drinking and, as a result, would drastically lessen the harmful drinking behavior exhibited by teens in our country.

Adolescent Hazardous Drinking: Room for Optimism, Hope, and Success and the Need For Successful Goal Setting

There are certainly more than a few compelling reasons why so many of our adolescents drink in a hazardous manner. Such a knotty issue, if hope, success, and optimism are to be attained, demands effective goal setting, a thorough and relevant preventative and educational response by our students, politicians, parents, and educators, and supplying coping skills training and stress management classes so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s problems in a more fruitful and accountable manner rather than gravitating to injurious drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.

Posted on June 13th, 2010 by authorgen
Filed under: Other Contributors