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Standing Tall Against Alcohol
What You Need to Know to Keep Your Preteen Safe
By Gwen Morrison
That, coupled with the fact that alcohol is becoming more increasingly available at a greater number of locations, activities and events, is of great concern to many parents, educators and health professionals.
A recent nationwide poll conducted for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that nearly 70 percent of Americans favor a ban on TV liquor ads and 59 percent support banning beer commercials on TV. "It's time TV executives and the alcohol industry stop profiting at the hands of those most harmed by drinking," says Dr. Hill. "This report reminds us of how important it is to protect our children during these crucial early years of development instead of filling their growing brains with the misleading notions that drinking is normal and without consequence."
The AMA report points out that adolescents, who typically have smaller bodies than adults, have not yet developed a physiological or behavioral tolerance to alcohol so that they don't have to drink very much to become intoxicated. Teens are more likely to become less controlled than adults, act out – even violently – and drink heavily until they are intoxicated. This is because their social, emotional control, thinking and decision-making skills are less developed than those of an adult.
Even more frightening, according to this recent report, each alcohol binge results in impaired thinking skills, impaired learning and memory. With chronic alcohol use, there are lasting changes to this system, leading to blackouts, amnesia, breakdown of the brain's motor coordination center and susceptibility to withdrawal seizures.
