Alcoholism is a substance use disorder in which the person has difficulty controlling how much and how often they consume alcohol and its detrimental effects on their lives. It is currently diagnosed as an alcohol use disorder.
The amount of alcohol that teens consume might vary significantly depending on several variables; age, gender, social environment, and past experiences with alcohol. Nonetheless, studies have revealed that underage drinking is a serious public health issue in many nations throughout the world and that many teenagers report consuming alcohol at least occasionally.
According to statistics, around half of junior and senior high school students consume alcohol every month. About 14% of teenagers are reported to be drunk at least once a year. While about 8% of teenagers who drink claim to have consumed at least five alcoholic beverages in a row (binge drinking).
The use of alcohol and drugs goes through five stages.
1) Initial stage: at this stage, teenagers experiment with the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, or other drugs. At this stage, reducing the risk variables that increase a teen’s propensity for alcohol use is a problem.
2) The Second stage: The use of alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, or other substances in this stage might range from occasional use or experimentation to regular or weekly use.
3) The Third stage: at this stage, teenagers continue to increase their frequency of the use of alcohol and other drugs. They may also purchase alcohol or other drugs during this stage, or they may steal to obtain their preferred drug.
4) The Fourth stage: at this stage, teenagers have established regular use of drugs, and they don’t mind getting high. As a result, they have problems in their social and academic lives.
5) The fifth stage of alcohol or other drug use, which is the most severe, entails the young person only feeling normal while on alcohol. They get themselves involved in riskier actions including stealing, fighting, raping, etc. Also, they become more prone to suicidal thoughts.
What are the causes and risk factors of teen alcoholism? How can we as mothers prevent our teenagers from getting involved in alcohol? All these will be discussed in my next article. Watch out!
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