Teen Drinking and Behavior Problems

Teen Drinking and Behavior Problems Addiction Alcohol Use Binge Drinking Print Teen Drinking and Behavior Problems By Buddy T facebook twitter Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Learn about our editorial policy Buddy T Updated on July 11, 2018  Chris Whitehead/Getty Images More in Addiction Alcohol Use Binge Drinking Withdrawal and Relapse Children of Alcoholics Drunk Driving Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Nicotine Use Coping and Recovery Teen drinking leads to behavior problems and issues with behavioral control. Adolescents age 12 to 17 who use alcohol are more likely to report behavioral issues, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Especially behavior that is aggressive, delinquent, or criminal. There is a strong relationship, based on adolescent self-reporting, between alcohol use and emotional and behavioral problems, including: FightingStealingDriving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugsSkipping schoolFeeling depressed Illegal Drug Use Adolescent alcohol users, regardless of whether they are heavy, binge, or light drinkers, report they are more likely to use illicit drugs than non-drinkers. SAMHSA reports  current heavy drinkers were 16 times more likely than nondrinkers to have used an illicit drug in the past month. Light drinkers were eight times more likely to have used an illicit drug in the past month than non-drinking adolescents. Drinking as a Cry for Help Parents need to know that alcohol use can also be a warning sign or a cry for help that something is seriously wrong in a childs life. If parents, counselors, teachers, and other caring adults reach children early enough, they can intervene before troubling behaviors lead to serious emotional disturbances, including: Illicit drug useSchool failureFamily disagreementsViolenceSuicide Crime, Violence, and Suicide Here are some sobering statistics about crime, violence, and suicide based on self-reporting from teens who claimed they were heavy drinkers. In this comparison with adolescent non-drinkers these teens were: Four times more likely to steal something outside the homeThree times more likely to report deliberately trying to hurt or kill themselvesThree times more likely to report having gotten into a physical fightThree times as likely to report engaging in destruction of property belonging to othersFour times more likely to report that they had gotten behind the wheel under the influence of drugsFive times more likely run away from homeFive times more likely to say that they had driven under the influence of alcohol in the past yearSix times as likely to report skipping schoolMore than seven times more likely to have been arrested and charged with breaking the law The Difference Between Light, Binge, and Heavy Drinkers Teen drinking is defined in terms of it being non-drinkers, light, binge and heavy drinkers. SAMSHA defines  heavy drinkers as those who consumed five or more drinks per occasion on five or more days in the previous 30 days; binge drinkers consumed five or more drinks on at least one occasion, but no more than four occasions during the previous 30 days; light drinkers consumed at least one, but fewer than five drinks on any occasion during the previous 30 days; and non-drinkers did not drink alcohol in the previous 30 days. Prevalence of Underage Drinking There was been an encouraging decline in heavy drinking and binge drinking by adolescents and young adults from 2002 to 2014. But there were still over 5 million binge drinkers and 1.3 million heavy drinkers in this population.  More than 1 in 5 underage persons took a drink in the past month.