THE DANGER OF DRINKING ALCOHOL: A WAKE-UP CALL!

Dr. Tesfa G. Gebremedhin

West Virginia University

A young girl, dead-drunk at sixteen said, “We exploit alcohol in private but we don’t utter it in the presence of our parents.” A young boy at seventeen was caught hiding in his bedroom drinking hard liquor from a small bottle in a brown paper bag. His father asked his son with disappointment and anger, “Where did you learn drinking alcohol at this age?” His son replied, “I learned drinking alcohol by watching you.” Another teenage girl confessed, “I got raped because I got so drunk that I blacked out at a party with strangers. I barely remember how I let some guy take me up to his room and I honestly don’t remember what happened next.” On the positive side another young teenage boy indicated, “My dad is an alcoholic and he has tried many times to get me to drink, but I don’t want to end up like my father.” Many children, particularly young adolescents, begin to drink at about twelve or thirteen years of age. All children are biologically, socially, and physically exposed to different conditions and environment at different times in their lives. Though many parental factors can positively influence children to stay away from substance abuse, many other parental factors can negatively affect young adults drinking behavior. It has been observed in many households that parental drinking can negatively influence adolescent drinking behavior. Research suggests that adolescents who see their parents drink may observe and participate in drinking behaviors. These adolescents who adapt and model this negative parental behavior have increased risk behaviors associated with drinking alcohol. Growing up in situations where alcohol use is common, particularly at weddings, engagements, baptism, birthdays, graduations, festivals, liquor stores, and restaurants/bars, these environments have been observed to increase risky alcohol use. Adolescents whose parents drink may drink more frequently and in large excess, replicating the parental behavior seen at home. The dramatic effects of drinking alcohol is not only limited to teenagers, it places others related to them at increased risks of experiencing second hand effects. 

 

If you can honestly say that your children never drank alcohol during high school, you are among the very minority who claim that they know but do not know their children’s activities very well because parents are the last ones to know that many of their children are at high risks for underage alcohol abuse. We need to be aware that underage drinking has reached epidemic proportions in many households and societies. Alcohol is far and away the top drug of abuse for many children. The earlier alcohol is consumed by young adults, the higher the risks for alcohol problems in the future. Alcohol damages the young brain and can be more harmful to teens than adults, as their brains have not finished developing. Alcohol interferes with mental and social development and interrupts academic progress. Persistent use of alcohol can lead to dependence, in the same way as many other drugs. Alcohol is the fatal attraction for many teenagers, a major factor in the three leading causes of teen death – drunken driving accidents, homicide and suicide. Homelessness, running away from home, teenage pregnancy, dropping out of school, poor school performance, problems with the law, outright disobedience and disrespect of parents, defiance and cheating behaviors, and juvenile delinquency, in most instances, are the reflection of substance abuse. These negative behaviors are also related to sticking with the wrong crowd such as the gangs or peers and even parents with the influence of negative behaviors. Thus, underage drinking alcohol has become a household and community concern and sets the stage for parents, communities, law enforcement, legislators, the entertainment industry, and the alcohol industry to save millions of teens from destroying their lives through alcohol abuse. Because of the prevalence of alcohol abuse among our children in our households and communities, understanding the problems associated with alcohol use and misuse is critical.

 

It is evident that underage drinking alcohol is an increasing problem in almost all countries. Children are trying and consuming alcohol at an earlier age than previous generations.  For example, in the United States of America 10.7 million of the 20.7 million students who are enrolled in grades 7 through 12 consume alcohol. Nearly eight million of these students consume alcohol at least once a week, and 5.4 million students consume five or more drinks in a row.  In another survey of high school seniors, 92 percent have tried alcohol, 66 percent were current drinkers, and more than one-third reported occasionally heavy use of alcohol. These drinking behaviors continue into the years of emerging adulthood, in the age group of eighteen to twenty five and they become a high risk population for drinking alcohol. During these age intervals in a person’s life, identity formation is still occurring. During emerging adulthood, a high and wide range of risk behaviors occurs more frequently than at other times over a person’s lifespan.  Emerging adults also participate in a variety of types of risk behavior or sensation seeking behaviors, which is the desire to have novel and intense experiences. Since this time in life is full of discovery and exploration, these young adults are not tied down to family and work expectations. At this age, there is the lack of parental supervision for the first time in their lives as emerging adults try to assert their independent decision making skills. Adolescence is a major transition period for all children; it is a time when children begin maturing physically, sexually, cognitively, and socially.  With all of these major changes some young adults begin to participate in many risk behaviors, including drinking alcohol and other substance abuse. All adolescents are at a potential risk for developing drinking behaviors before they reach adulthood. By the time they cross the boarder line to adulthood, the young adults are well acquainted with drinking alcohol. At this transitional age, they don’t need to find a social crowd to fit in with. They don’t need to try to be cool or slick. They don’t even need older peers to fetch or buy them alcohol.

             

Many different parental factors are thought to highly affect alcohol use in adolescents. Strong, positive parental bonding between young adults and their parents are associated with low levels of risky behaviors, low substance abuse, and better school performance. This parental bonding is believed to be one of the most secure attachments a child can have. The critical period for an infant was in the first few hours after birth.  It is in these first few hours that an attachment between the infant and the parent begins. Once a strong, positive parental attachment is firmly established, the child will carry that bond throughout life. Family bonding is a feeling of belongingness, closeness or intimacy between children and parents, and is reflected in perceived monitoring, communication, involvement, and joint activities in the family. For parents who participate in excess drinking behavior, establishing, creating, and maintaining the family bond is extremely difficult. Instead, the drinking behavior tends to create higher levels of stress and emotional turmoil for the whole family members. For young adults in these situations, family bonding is extremely critical, even though they may have different and special reasons for drinking. Interestingly, strong family bonding is so crucial that even when parents are excessive drinkers, forming a secure family bond with their children reduce chances of the adolescent drinking. Strong and positive youth and parents relationships usually delay initial alcohol use, which in turn lowers adolescent drinking behaviors.

 

Adolescent positive socialization, communication, and friendships with parents are highly correlated with supportive parental monitoring. Parental supervision of children’s activities with their peers, such as parties, is one important component of parental monitoring. Active parental monitoring and participation in children’s activities reduce drinking and negative behavior in adolescents and also appears to open lines of communication between parents and their children. These parents who participate in parental monitoring feel more comfortable and effective discussing drinking alcohol with their children. They also feel more adequately prepared to control or prevent alcohol problems than parents who do not participate in parental monitoring and supervision. Parents who engage in parental monitoring are more likely to communicate with their children so they know what their children are doing, where they are going, and who their friends are. Those parents who supervise children’s activities, particularly parties held in their homes, tend to understand teens behavior and are more aware of drinking behaviors of, not only their children, but their children’s friends as well. Parents who routinely supervise their children believe that drinking and driving among teens is a serious issue because parents believe that the teen friends of their children drink and drive because alcohol is served where the teens attend parties. Almost all adolescents indicate that their parents are more likely to wait up for them when they come home at night or their parents would be willing to pick them up if they had too much to drink, but none of them actually believe that their parents would come and pick them up without a consequence. In this case, the positive behavior of calling is believed to lead to a negative consequence of the parent being upset or forbidding their children to hang out with their friends. Because of this situation, children prefer to drive drunk or ride with a drunk driver. Thus, alcohol misuse is seen as a direct result of low parental action, which is characterized by weak levels of monitoring, supervision, and enforcement of family policies on drinking.

 

            Alcohol abuse, particularly underage drinking, continues to be a huge problem worldwide. There is no practical way to prevent drinking alcohol from occurring.  There are many issues that play a role in children’s upbringing.  Issues such as when parents bonding with their children and what type of communication they participate in. Parental monitoring and modeling appear to play a large and key role in whether young adults participate in drinking behaviors or not. Parental influences can play a role in drinking behavior, but it cannot alone cause positive behaviors without the help of the community. Obviously, the support and active participation of our Eritrean professionals and scholars in mentoring, monitoring, and supervising our children at community level is highly desirable. This is a wake-up call to all concerned parents and community members to come together and claim alcohol drinking problem and take action to reduce substance abuse and prevent our children from becoming a statistic. Some of us may think and even believe that our children don’t have alcohol drinking problem, but as Jackie Joyner-Kersey said, still, “It is better to plan ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.”

 

 

 

 

 

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