Underage drinking is a problem due to the underdeveloped frontal cortex in adolescents, leading to poor judgment and risk assessment skills. Teenagers also experience fewer negative side effects of alcohol, contributing to heavy drinking and potential injuries. Peer pressure and hereditary effects also play a role. Parents and caregivers should monitor adolescents to prevent underage drinking.
There are a number of connections between alcohol and adolescence that contribute to the problem of underage drinking. In many countries around the world, teenagers under the age of 18 or 21 are not legally allowed to drink, but underage drinking still remains a problem. Researchers have determined a number of causes for this connection between alcohol and adolescence. One of the most significant is that the part of the brain that regulates an individual’s decisions about risky behavior is not yet fully developed. Additionally, many teenagers seem to show a much higher tolerance for alcohol, as they don’t experience many of the more negative side effects, such as headaches or feeling tired the next day.
Brain development is one of the biggest contributors to problems with alcohol and adolescence. Adolescents simply don’t have a fully developed frontal cortex. As a result, they do not have fully developed judgment and risk assessment skills and may perceive the risks of underage drinking to be much lower than they actually are. The fact that their brains aren’t fully developed also contributes to how they experience the effects of alcohol and can contribute to drinking more heavily whenever they consume alcohol.
Studies have shown that teenagers experience fewer negative side effects of alcohol than adults with fully developed brains. For example, teenagers may not experience hangovers or sleepiness after consuming alcohol like most adults do. This contributes to alcohol and adolescence problems because it induces adolescents to drink, thinking it will have no ill effects. This isn’t true, though; teenagers are even more susceptible to alcohol poisoning because of it, and their hand-eye coordination and motor function are still significantly impaired, leading to potential injuries or traffic accidents.
The connections between alcohol and adolescence exist for other reasons as well. Peer pressure is a leading cause of alcohol use in adolescents, particularly if adolescents start drinking when they are still quite young, such as at age 13 or younger. They may perceive drinking alcohol as a “cool” thing to do to fit in. If children have a parent with a drinking problem, they may also be more likely to start drinking in their teens due to these hereditary effects. Underage drinking is extremely dangerous behavior for adolescents and is a frequent cause of injury or death in this age group, so it is very important for parents and caregivers to monitor adolescents and ensure they are not drinking before they’re old enough.
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