The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking
- ISBN-10
- 1478298634
- ISBN-13
- 9781478298632
- Category
- Medical
- Pages
- 104
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2012-07-23
- Publisher
- Createspace Independent Pub
- Authors
- U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General
Description
Alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among America's youth. A higher percentage of young people between the ages of 12 and 20 use alcohol than use tobacco or illicit drugs. The physical consequences of underage alcohol use range from medical problems to death by alcohol poisoning, and alcohol plays a significant role in risky sexual behavior, physical and sexual assaults, various types of injuries, and suicide. Underage drinking also creates secondhand effects for others, drinkers and nondrinkers alike, including car crashes from drunk driving, that put every child at risk. Underage alcohol consumption is a major societal problem with enormous health and safety consequences and will demand the Nation's attention and committed efforts to solve. For the most part, parents and other adults underestimate the number of adolescents who use alcohol. They underestimate how early drinking begins, the amount of alcohol adolescents consume, the many risks that alcohol consumption creates for adolescents, and the nature and extent of the consequences to both drinkers and nondrinkers. Too often, parents are inclined to believe, “Not my child.” Yet, by age 15, approximately one half of America's boys and girls have had a whole drink of alcohol, not just a few sips, and the highest prevalence of alcohol dependence in any age group is among people ages 18 to 20. This Surgeon General's Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking was issued to focus national attention on this enduring problem and on new, disturbing research which indicates that the developing adolescent brain may be particularly susceptible to long term negative consequences from alcohol use. Recent studies show that alcohol consumption has the potential to trigger long term biological changes that may have detrimental effects on the developing adolescent brain, including neurocognitive impairment. Fortunately, the latest research also offers hopeful new possibilities for prevention and intervention by furthering our understanding of underage alcohol use as a developmental phenomenon—as a behavior directly related to maturational processes in adolescence. New research explains why adolescents use alcohol differently from adults, why they react uniquely to it, and why alcohol can pose such a powerful attraction to adolescents, with unpredictable and potentially devastating outcomes. Emerging research also makes it clear that an adolescent's decision to use alcohol is influenced by multiple factors. These factors include normal maturational changes that all adolescents experience; genetic, psychological, and social factors specific to each adolescent; and the various social and cultural environments that surround adolescents, including their families, schools, and communities. These factors—some of which protect adolescents from alcohol use and some of which put them at risk— change during the course of adolescence. Because environmental factors play such a significant role, responsibility for the prevention and reduction of underage drinking extends beyond the parents of adolescents, their schools, and communities. The process of solving the public health problem of underage alcohol use begins with an examination of our own attitudes toward underage drinking—and our recognition of the seriousness of its consequences for adolescents, their families, and society as a whole. Adolescent alcohol use is not an acceptable rite of passage but a serious threat to adolescent development and health, as the statistics related to adolescent impairment, injury, and death attest. A significant point of the Call to Action is this: Underage alcohol use is not inevitable, and schools, parents, and other adults are not powerless to stop it. The latest research demonstrates a compelling need to address alcohol use early, continuously, and in the context of human development using a systematic approach that spans childhood through adolescence into adulthood.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking: What It Means to You: Guides to Action for...
By Barry LeonardThese three guides highlight underage alcohol use as a major public health & safety issue & suggest ways you can end underage drinking in your home, family, community, & across the nation: (1) A Guide to Action for Families; (2) A Guide to ...
-
The Surgeon General's Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking
By Office of the Surgeon General, U S Department of Health and Human ServAlcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among America's youth. A higher percentage of young people between the ages of 12 and 20 use alcohol than use tobacco or illicit drugs.
-
Underage Drinking: A Report on Drinking in the Second Decade of Life in Europe and North America
By Philippe De Witte, Mack C. Mitchell Jr.MULTI-COMPONENT PREVENTION PROGRAMMES Multi-component prevention approaches are programmes where the intervention is delivered in multiple different settings. For example, the intervention might occur in both family and school settings, ...
-
Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility
By Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Institute of Medicine, National Research CouncilJournal of Studies on Alcohol (Suppl. 14), 71-81. Stewart, D.G., and Brown, S.A. (1995). Withdrawal and dependency symptoms among adolescent alcohol and drug abusers. Addiction, 90,627-635. Strunin, L., and Hingson, R. (1992).
-
National Prevention Strategy: America’s Plan for Better Health and Wellness
By Regina M. BenjaminJournal of Studies on Alcohol Supplement 2002;63:101-17.; Dermen KH, Cooper ML. Inhibition conflict and alcohol expectancy as moderators of alcohol's relationship to condom use. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2000 ...
-
Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health
By U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon GeneralAll across the United States, individuals, families, communities, and health care systems are struggling to cope with substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders.
-
Preventing and Reducing Underage Drinking
By Nathaniel P. MarquisThis book focuses on the Surgeon General's call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking, to focus national attention on this enduring problem and on new, disturbing research which...
-
Getting to Zero Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities: A Comprehensive Approach to a Persistent Problem
By Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice, Health and Medicine Division, EngineeringGetting to Zero Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities examines which interventions (programs, systems, and policies) are most promising to prevent injuries and death from alcohol-impaired driving, the barriers to action and approaches to ...
-
Promoting Positive Adolescent Health Behaviors and Outcomes: Thriving in the 21st Century
By Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Health and Medicine Division, EngineeringPromoting Positive Adolescent Health Behaviors and Outcomes: Thriving in the 21st Century identifies key program factors that can improve health outcomes related to adolescent behavior and provides evidence-based recommendations toward ...
-
Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow
By Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice, Health and Medicine Division, EngineeringMaking Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow proposes a new population-centered framework to guide action and coordination among various, and sometimes competing, stakeholders in pursuit of improved eye and vision ...