Consequences of Underage Drinking

Underage drinking is one of the serious problems that society is facing today. We have seen alcohol spoil generations. When we talk about a bright future in the safe hands of the forthcoming generations, we are ignoring the fact that the future generations are risking their future as also the future of our society, by indulging in drinking from an early age. Looking at the consequences of underage drinking, we can easily understand that underage drinking is indeed a curse to the society. Alcohol consumption is a severe problem and we need to find a solution to it.

Consequences of Underage Drinking

Recent research has shown that underage drinking has a negative effect on the development of the brain. Consumption of alcohol at an early age hampers the physical growth and development of the brain. Underage drinking has an adverse effect on the development of memory. It decreases the abilities of planning and execution, spatial operations and memory. Underage drinking leads to attention disorders and difficulties in concentrating.

Studies have shown that around 40% of those who start drinking before the age of fifteen, are sure to meet the criteria of alcoholism later in life. Underage drinking has grave and long-lasting consequences.

Rapes and sexual abuse in campus are often found to be a result of alcohol consumption of the youths. Most of the violence in campus is alcohol-related. Statistical analysis has revealed that a majority of social and behavioral problems in college students are consequences of their drinking. Poor performance and low college grades are often the results of an excessive consumption of alcohol in students.

Alcohol abuse was found to be prominent in those who began drinking during their teen age. A majority of the drinking adults are observed to have started drinking before the age of twenty-one. This also brings out the fact that underage drinking has a great potential of turning into addiction. Most of the alcohol addicts we see today are seen to have started drinking from an early age.

Indulging in risk-bearing tasks after drinking or driving after drinking can lead to unintentional deaths and injuries. Underage drinking is responsible for many such instances of accidents and injuries caused due to loss of motor control after consumption of alcohol.

Risky sexual behavior and sexual assaults are also attributed to consumption of alcohol in youths. These consequences appear to a higher degree in those who start drinking from an early age. The consequences of drinking are graver in people who resort to drinking from their teen years.

There have been cases wherein fatal accidents have taken place and reports have shown that many of the drivers involved in the fatalities were drunk. Most of the drivers involved in fatal crashes were below the age of 20.

Depression is also an effect of excessive consumption of alcohol from an early age. There is a disruption in one's mental well-being. An underage drinker of alcohol is susceptible to undergo mental disturbance and fall prey to mental depression. This can lead them to committing suicides. A majority of suicides in youngsters have been observed to be results of their alcohol consumption.

Young alcoholics are vulnerable to alcohol use disorders. Underage drinking has side effects like illicit use of drugs and tobacco. Underage drinking affects the overall mental and social development of the drinkers. Underage drinking may produce weak generations. There is an urgency to curb underage drinking. The development of a well-grounded system of values from an early age is the best solution.