Persuasive Essay On Underage Drinking

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Ninety percent of alcohol addictions start in the teenage years. Very rarely do teenagers live on their own, meaning that almost all teenagers go home at some point in the day to their parents. Anyone under the age of 21 that consumes alcohol is considered an underage drinker. Adolescents often don’t realize the damaging effects drinking can have on their communities, their families, and their lives. Underage drinking, besides being illegal, is a broad public health problem that presents many risks. Unfortunately, many parents buy into common myths and misperceptions related to underage drinking. Parents are generally the most involved people in a child’s maturing life, and they should be held accountable for the underage drinking of their In a persuasive article titled, “Teen Binge Drinking: All Too Common,” on www.psychologytoday.com, I learned about some reasons that teens begin to drink that parents do not have total control over. While reading Raychelle C.Lohmann’s article, I discovered that one of the most popular reasons for drinking is to be more sociable with friends. A lot of teens do not think that drinking is bad. They have turned it into an acceptable activity that they take part in when they’re out with their friends. I beg to differ, because I can say that I had a lot of fun these last four years in high school with all my friends and I never once took a sip of alcohol. I do not think it is necessary to drink in order to have fun. The second biggest cause for teen drinking is stress. In a survey of middle school and high school students, almost three quarters stated that teens drink because of pressures at school. This high percentage surprised me because I don’t find high school all that stressful, and school is nothing compared to working and maintaining a family. A third major source of teen alcohol consumption comes from the very powerful and popular media. 47 percent of teens agreed that television shows and movies portray alcohol as an OK thing to do. I can also contest against this statement because I find it ridiculous to go on social media sites, see pictures of celebrities drinking, and If one parent is a heavy drinker, the child’s chances of becoming a heavy drinker increase by two or three times. In a 2005 study done in Wales, children of heavy drinkers were found to “drink more frequently, more heavily, and more often alone” than children of parents without alcohol problems. (CRC Health). Kids who grow up with a parent that is an alcoholic can be severely impacted by it. The kids have a higher potential of developing emotional problems and a lot of them grow up to become alcoholics themselves. It is a traumatic experience for a child to see their parent battle against alcohol addiction and that leads to the child possibly falling onto the same path. Parents are to blame for this because they are influencing their kids to do the same as they did, and it forms a habit for them to

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