Using Science to Talk to Your Teen about Drinking

By Jane St. Clair

The National Association for the Advancement of Science came up with a clever idea: using science to talk to kids about drinking. Instead of being emotional or threatening, or exaggerating the risks of underage drinking, you simply give teens the facts. Fortunately, the facts are on the side of adults who want their kids to wait until they are of legal age to drink, and then only to drink responsibly.

Alcohol Damages Teen Brains

Research suggests that alcohol may permanently damage the brains of young people. Researchers at the North Carolina Center for Alcoholic Studies proved conclusively that alcohol permanently damages the brains of adolescent animals in the cortex areas, leading to diminished capacity to control cravings and poor decision-making, and the biofrontal cortex, which controls envisioning the future, reasoning, and making judgments.  

This research may explain why younger teens are more likely to become addicted to alcohol and develop serious drinking problems as adults. Kids who start very young (for example, in sixth grade) are often the ones who have emotional problems and drink to soothe their stress. This kind of drinking is the type most often tied to alcoholism in adulthood.

Science has only learned in the past few years that the human brain keeps developing until a person reaches his mid-20s. Rapid development takes place between 12 and 25 years of age, which means that drinking too much during these times interferes with healthy growth in the brain.

Teens and college students have different drinking patterns than adults do. They tend to binge drink; that is, consume five or more alcoholic beverages in a row with the express purpose of getting drunk or impressing their friends. Professor John Donovan of the University of Pittsburgh believes the standard for binge drinking for teens should be lower because they have less body mass. His research suggests three or more drinks for girls, and four or more for boys as the new definition.

The United States Surgeon General estimates that 7.2 million young people are binge drinkers. This kind of drinking is particularly dangerous to the liver, which can only process one drink per hour.

The Facts about Drinking

In the spirit of sharing the straight facts about alcohol use with your teen, here are a few to get you started.

Drinking too quickly can make you sick to your stomach, causing you to vomit during a party or social gathering. The next day you will really feel sick, usually having headaches, dizziness, and stomach woes. If you drink too much, you won’t have clear memories of a fun evening out or a party or even your prom. Everyone will remember that you passed out, vomited, and acted out of control.

You don’t want to mix alcohol with other drugs. This combination accounts for one in four ER visits that are related to drug overdoses. You also don’t want to mix alcohol with caffeine or strong stimulants because it leads to alcohol poisoning. If you mix alcohol with downers like heroin, you are much more likely to overdose and die.

Drinking too much will ruin your grades. You will have more trouble concentrating “the morning after,” and frequent binge drinking can cause memory problems, which is especially troublesome for students. In one study, between 45% and 70% of alcoholics performed poorly on tests of problem solving, abstract thinking, memory, and shifting concepts.

Teen alcohol-related deaths number more than 1,400 per year. Drinking and driving or getting into a car with a drunk driver is a deadly combination for teens.

Advice for Teen Girls

Girls metabolize alcohol differently than boys do. They get drunk faster and experience worse hangovers. Too much drinking will interfere with their menstrual periods. 

Girls who drink too much are more vulnerable to date rape and sexual assaults as well as sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. In one study, half of college date rapes involved drinking. Girls have been attacked even after they have passed out from drinking too much.  Drinking too much also causes you to lose your inhibitions and do things you may regret, such as appearing in a “Girls Gone Wild” tape. It may not matter now, but when your daughter enters the professional world, these images can surface at all the wrong times.

Advice for Teen Boys

Boys who drink are more likely to get into fights. One study found that 12% of male binge drinkers routinely get into fights. They are more likely to experience violence, be arrested, carry handguns, and be injured. 

A few studies have shown that teens who participate in educational programs that exaggerate claims against using drugs and alcohol actually drink and do drugs more than those who didn’t take the classes. However, science has given us straight facts backed up by laboratory and university studies to use when we talk to teens about drinking. These facts can help you guide your child down the sometimes bumpy road of teenage life.