Why Being Young is the Major Factor Affecting Under Age Drinking

To drink or not to drink is a question that most teenagers do not bother asking. There is a pattern towards under age drinking without teens thinking about it too much. A press statement from The Partnership at drugfree.org reports that “downing five or more alcoholic drinks nearly every day isn’t seen as a big problem for many of the nation’s teens. When asked if they see “great risk” in drinking that much, almost half the teens questioned – 45 percent – didn’t see it as a big deal.”[i]

Fact is – alcohol is the drug of choice among our youth. This cannot be dismissed as a trend, and it can be fatal.[ii] Yet, despite the grim statistics, one of the many, people under 21 years of age still continue to drink, or worse, to engage in binge drinking.

Unfortunately, studies have shown that the main reason why young people drink is basically because, well, they are young. As children grow to be young adults, they experience significant changes physically, mentally, and emotionally.  These puberty-related changes, according to adolescent psychologists, can often be associated with alcohol use.

So, what are these developmental transitions that the drinking under age populations go through?

Adolescents are inclined towards adventure-seeking and risk-taking.

Medical studies have shown that the human brain continues to develop well into the twenties. Psychologists and psychiatrists believe that this long period may explain the impulsiveness among young people, and their inclination to seek thrills and adventures, including the use of drugs and alcohol.

The adolescent brain is more sensitive and tolerant to alcohol

Having a developing brain is found to enable teenagers to drink more heavily than adults before feeling drowsy, uncoordinated, and unfocused, thus the binge drinking. Also, young people seem to be more sensitive to the positive effects of drinking than adults, including such feeling relaxed and uninhibited.

Adolescents are more susceptible to peer pressure

We all have heard that phrase before, and peer pressure is also cited when speaking about other risk taking behaviors like unprotected sex and drug use. But because they are young, the need to belong is a developmental task that is often addressed through under aged drinking. Whether they have positive or negative views about alcohol is secondary to the need to be treated as part of the group.

Adolescents are vulnerable to adult influence

It has been established that children whose parents are regular drinkers tend to start drinking while still young. This is your simple parental influence. Another trend is that teenage girls with boyfriends 21 years or older who are drinkers are more likely to get into drinking. Underage girls with adult boyfriends, incidentally, are more likely to get pregnant than those having boyfriends of their own age.

Adolescents have high expectations about alcohol

Expectancy plays a key role in drinking patterns. This means that among young people, there is a high percentage between the ages of 13-20 who expect drinking alcohol to be a pleasant experience than those who expect otherwise. Again, this is in relation to the young body’s capacity to be sensitive to the positive effect alcohol on the body and the mind.

Adolescents who are children of alcoholics are more likely to acquire the behavior at that age

For one, children of alcoholics (COAs) are between 4 to 10 times more likely to drink alcohol than those whose parents are not. They tend to “begin drinking at a young age and to progress to drinking problems more quickly.”

Given these under age drinking trends, it was actress Melissa Gilbert, herself a recovering alcoholic and national spokesperson of The Partnership, who said it best, “”It is much more terrifying these days than it was when we were younger.”