Recent alcohol abuse statistics demonstrate the fact that alcohol abuse among adolescents is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? Numerous substance abuse professionals affirm that beer, wine, and liquor advertisements constructed by the media are an essential reason for the proliferation of teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcohol addiction professionals emphasize the point that the increase in teenage alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and ease of access of wine,liquor, and beer in our society.

Still other alcohol dependency consultants believe that quite a few of our adolescents engage in abusive drinking due to the increased disquiet that they undergo.

From a somewhat different standpoint, because both parents in many families work, the lack of parental supervision certainly has to play a major role in the proliferation of teen alcohol abuse. And lastly, different substance abuse specialists assert that the escalation of teenage alcohol abuse is due, at least partially, to our laissez-faire society.

Alcohol Abuse and Coping Skills

One component of youth alcohol abuse that seems to be somewhat missing in the chemical dependency research results, then again, is the lack of educational courses that teach students how to enhance their coping skills so that their destructive drinking behavior is fundamentally reduced or gotten rid of.

More to the point, scientific research has revealed that there is an indirect connection between poor coping skills and hazardous drinking. In essence, this means that the worse the coping skills, the greater the frequency of alcohol abuse. To the degree that this is a valid statement, why isn’t coping skills instruction a primary part of the academic core curriculum in all of our high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools?

A Society That Emphasizes Adolescent Coping Skills

Let us create a scenario for the purpose of explanation. Let us imagine a society in which all individuals are taught how to achieve first rate coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their senior year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets complicated, students who are ”coping skills experts” will be able to respond in a more healthy and more productive manner, contrary to others who fail to put their coping skills into operation.

More to the point, students who display good coping skills will be more able to think logically and display first-class decision making as opposed to teens who, because they were unsuccessful in their attempts to implement outstanding coping skills, resort to the “quick fix” of abusive drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, moreover, if students not only received top quality coping skills instruction but also obtained an exceptional education that outlined the long term and short term devastating outcomes associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills education, it is asserted, would help teens steer clear of the apparent attraction with youth drinking and, as a result, would drastically diminish the injurious drinking behavior exhibited by teenagers in our country.

Youth Hazardous Drinking: Conclusion

There are positively several legitimate reasons why so many of our adolescents drink in a hazardous manner. Such a thorny problem demands a comprehensive and relevant educational and preventative response by our politicians, parents, educators, and students so that our youth can learn how to cope with life’s problems in a more fruitful and accountable manner rather than resorting to abusive drinking behavior to solve their difficulties.