Teenage Drinking

Teenage Drinking

In the article, "An Analysis of Environmental and Social Factors Affecting Adolescent Problem Drinking," by J. Kelly Coker and L. DiAnne Borders, the authors describe their research about their findings about teenage drinking. The article was originally published in 2001 in the Journal of Counseling & Development as examination of why teenagers decide to drink. The authors describe many factors as why teenagers begin to drink such as peer pressure and the lack of refusal skills. They believe parents must have a role in their teenagers' lives to set examples for them to live by. However, the authors feel that peer values have the biggest effect on young adults if they decide to drink.

In the article, Coker and Borders write about the effects of alcohol on teenagers. The use of alcohol may bring risks such as drunk driving or problems such as becoming a parent at a young age. Prevention of such problems and risks from alcohol has become a general concern for parents, schools, communities, and counselors across the United States. Coker and Border suggest counselors are trying to gather all the information they can to prevent teenagers from starting to drink at an early age.

Peer and parental relationships have impacts on students when they decided to drink. According to the authors, if teenagers hang out with adolescents that have positive goals and are involved in activities, they have a lower chance not to start drinking. Parents also play a major role in their teenagers' lives by influencing their children with behaviors such as being there to talk to them. Some parents believe they can set examples for their children by punishing them. Foxcroft and Lowe suggest that the way a teenager is raised, such as if he or she is abandoned, has an effect on the teenager's decision to drink.

School climate and community participation have effects on adolescents if they choose to drink or not to drink The authors cite many studies to support this assertion. From the previous research of Weishew and Peng, it shows that positive attitudes in school from faculty have a strong effect on teenagers choosing not to drink. Involvement in activities around the community and school discourage teen drinking according to the research on O'Brien and Rollefson. Risky behaviors such as drug use and the use of alcohol decrease when families are involved with school.

Coker and Borders wanted to understand why teenagers decide to drink. They evaluated the issues affecting students such as the transition into high school and how well the students did with their grades over the years. Coker and Borders choose 24,599 eighth grade teenagers and sent out a survey. In the survey, the students filled out information on such ideas as their activities and their relationships with their families. According to Coker and Borders, of those 24,599 students, 17,424 actually sent their information back and the data was stored in a codebook.

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