Alcoholism affects adolescents in many ways. The children of alcoholic parents are more likely to become alcoholics themselves because of their genes and the ramifications of living with an alcoholic, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports. Consequently, many adolescents suffer from the effects of a parent’s alcoholism as well as their own. Other adolescents are affected by the drinking of their friends.
Definition
Alcoholism is a chronic disease that lasts throughout your life, according to The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. You are an alcoholic if you have one of four symptoms--a craving for alcohol, an inability to stop drinking after you start, a desire to keep drinking until you get high and a physical dependence on alcohol. If you are physically dependent on alcohol, you will have withdrawal symptoms after you stop drinking. These symptoms include anxiety, nausea, shakiness and sweating.
History
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ “Healthy People 2010" report does not estimate the number of adolescent alcoholics, but reports that 26 percent of high school seniors binged, consuming at least five drinks consecutively, in the two weeks before its 2007 survey. Drinking has been a major problem for adolescents for many years. “Essentials” reported in 2000 that “over 3 million American teenagers between ages 14 and 17 have a drinking problem.”
Significance
Adolescents who are alcoholic are "much more likely" to engage in several risky behaviors, according to the "Essentials for Health and Wellness" book. Those risky behaviors include driving after drinking, damaging property, having unplanned sex, not using protection while having sex and fighting. Adolescent alcoholics are also much more likely to get arrested, hurt and sick.
Personality
Children of alcoholics are affected by alcoholism even if they don’t develop a drinking problem themselves, according to “Essentials.” Their characteristics include compulsive behavior, a fear of expressing feelings, a resistance to change, an effort to control other people and a desire to be a victim in interpersonal relationships.
Current Problems
Adolescent children of alcoholics are often traumatized by life at home with an alcoholic, according to “Essentials.” They are often neglected, victimized by violence, emotionally unstable and immature, in need of parental support and supervision, depressed, and unable to maintain harmonious relationships with classmates and others. They also are at risk of emulating an alcoholic parent’s bad behavior.
Long-Term Problems
Adolescents are much more likely to have serious problems that are associated with long-term alcohol use if they begin drinking at an early age, according to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The problems include blackouts, colon cancer, dementia, hallucinations, heart disease, hepatitis, high blood pressure, liver cancer, lung cancer, seizures and stomach cancer, according to “Essentials.”
References
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: FAQ for the General Public
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Substance Abuse
- "Essentials for Health and Wellness"; Gordon Edlin, Eric Golanty, Kelli McCormack Brown; 2000
