Underage Drinking
Community-Based Behavioral Health Resources
Mental health and substance abuse disorders affect millions of Americans each year, but there are several local organizations that provide hope and healing. If you are in need of behavioral health services, this PDF will show you the organizations in our community that can offer help for your teen and other family members.
Talk, They Hear You
It is hard for most parents to believe that their child might be caught up in underage alcohol use and in need of professional help. Do not feel bad if you did not see the warning signs until your child was in trouble or until someone told you about the problem. When most parents find out about their child’s underage drinking, they feel shocked and stunned and wonder where they went wrong.
What You Can Do for Safe and Sober Youth
Do you care about safe and healthy youth? You can help reduce underage drinking, impaired driving and substance misuse, while improving the mental health and happiness of the young people in our Lyons Township Communities.
Join us in developing programs and communication around our mission.
Don’t Let Alcohol Derail Your Teen’s Future
The road to adulthood can be a roller-coaster of raw emotions. It’s unrealistic to think that teens, even high achievers and kids who have never been in trouble, will not be tempted to experiment with alcohol. Peer pressure, availability and social acceptance too often lead to alcohol abuse and even dependency. Worse, one bad decision made while impaired with alcohol or drugs can lead to tragic consequences.
Parent Cafe “Prom and Beyond”
The Hippocampus (involved in memory and learning) suffers worst alcohol-related brain damage in teens. Drinking more and for
longer>smaller hippocampus. Impairs more in youth than adults. Frequent drinkers may never be able to catch up in adulthood, since areas for restoring new information are inhibited.
The Brain’s Hippocampus can be 10% smaller in underage drinkers.
Underage Drinking Facts
Underage drinking is a serious public health problem in the United States. Alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among America’s youth, and drinking by young people poses enormous health and safety risks.
The consequences of underage drinking can affect everyone—regardless of age or drinking status. We all feel the effects of the aggressive behavior, property damage, injuries, violence, and deaths that can result from underage drinking. This is not simply a problem for some families—it is a nationwide concern.
Websites
SAMHSA on Underage Drinking
Alcohol is the most widely misused substance among America’s youth. Consumption of alcohol by anyone under the age of 21, also known as underage drinking, remains a considerable public health challenge. Adolescent alcohol use is not an acceptable rite of passage, but a serious threat to adolescent development and health. Medical research shows that the developing adolescent brain may be particularly susceptible to long-term negative consequences of alcohol use.
Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
Teens try alcohol for a variety of reasons – to exert independence, escape from stress, peer pressure, rebellion and even boredom – but they tend to do so without fully recognizing alcohol’s negative effects or health risks. Forty percent of teens do not perceive any risk in having one or two drinks nearly every day.
PLOS Research News
Alcohol and marijuana are the two most abused substances in U.S. colleges. It might seem obvious that excessive consumption of these substances can be bad for students’ health, but what about the effect on their work? U.S. college students who consume medium-to-high levels of alcohol and marijuana have a consistently lower GPA over two years, according to a new study.
Maine Parents
Not all kids in Maine drink, yet because they live in an environment that heavily promotes and enables alcohol use, all teens are at risk. A 2008 statewide survey reported that 48.8% of Maine students in grades seven through 12 have tried alcohol. In addition, 28.2% of the teens said they drank within one month of the survey, and 14.0% reported binge drinking (five or more alcoholic beverages in a row) within two weeks of the study. More importantly, 49.2% of teens don’t believe their parents would find out if they were drinking.
Tips on teen drinking
Parents need to set examples that their teens can model. IYS (Illinois Youth) surveys clearly show that mom and dad are far and away the leading influencers in their child’s life.
