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How Does Alcohol Affect Teens?

We’ve all heard about how alcohol can make us lose control of ourselves and our minds, but what does it actually do within our bodies? Legal drinking ages exist for a reason, yet almost 80% of high school students in America have tried alcohol (Dowshen, 2016). Is our education system to blame? Our parents? Ourselves? What can be so dangerous about alcohol that laws and systems have to be established?

Firstly, alcohol is a product of fermented grains, fruits or vegetables. The fermentation process utilises yeast or bacteria to change sugar structures into alcohol (Dowshen, 2016). However, this isn’t to say that fermentation is a negative process. We use it to produce many items such as cheese, yogurt and medications. When people consume alcohol, it’s absorbed into their bloodstream. Once alcohol has entered our bloodstream, it begins to affect our central nervous system, which controls all our basic body functions (National Institute on Drug Abuse, n.d.).

According to Dowshen, alcohol is a depressant, meaning that it slows the function of our nervous system. This can alter a person’s perceptions, movement, vision, hearing, and emotion. Alcohol can help a person feel more relaxed and less anxious, however greater volumes of alcohol will result in intoxication. When large volumes of alcohol are consumed within a short period of time, alcohol poisoning takes effect. “The consequences of alcohol poisoning are violent vomiting, extreme sleepiness, unconsciousness, difficulty breathing, low sugar levels, seizures and even death may occur.” (Dowshen, 2016).


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The factors that may influence teens to take up a glass or bottle are curiosity, the need to feel good or less anxious, to fit in, or even to possibly feel more like an adult. Children are often exposed to advertisements which show that alcohol is normal and fun and because of this, the dangers of alcohol are ignored. According to the health encyclopedia from the University of Rochester, a teen’s brain won’t stop developing until the age of 25. Research has shown that adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s rational segment, while teenagers tend to use the amygdala, responsible for emotion and behavior (University of Rochester Medical Center, n.d.). The amygdala is responsible for one’s emotions and behavior.


Teenagers who regularly drink often have problems maintaining their grades and studying. It has also been shown that sports performance is affected when consuming alcohol to intoxication as alcohol alters our coordination (Dowshen, 2016). Not only that, but teens who drink are more likely to be sexually active. This can result in teenage pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases. The use of alcohol has also been proven to increase the chances of a teen homicide, suicide, or car crash. A study from the University of Washington found that people who regularly have 5 or more drinks in a row beginning at age 13 will have a higher chance of being overweight or having high blood pressure.


Often, teens are peer pressured into drinking. Teens with lower self esteem are more likely to become problem drinkers as they try to fit in. A small sip can always snowball into a drinking problem that lasts. As repeated before, teens think and make decisions with their amygdala. A sip could be shrugged off the first time for some, but what happens after? A glass? A can? A bottle? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people ages 12 to 20 drink 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the US. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that when adolescents drink, they drink more at a time due to the fact that younger people consume more than 90 percent of their alcohol (this is commonly known as binge drinking).

Many teens are often unable to control their drinking or urges. One way to prevent this is being a supportive yet caring peer, evidently reducing the numbers of teens that put their lives at stake. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evaluates that data collected from 2006 to 2010 describes alcohol as a factor in the deaths of 4,358 young people under 21 each year. This includes 1580 deaths from motor vehicle accidents, 1269 from homicide, 245 from alcohol poisoning, falls, burns and drowning as well as 492 from suicides (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). Everyone makes a personal decision on whether or how much they should drink, and as teens, it’s important to prioritize the things we want to achieve in life rather than succumbing to alcohol.


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