Teenage alcoholism: why and what to do?

Adolescent alcoholism is very unpleasant and dangerous, but, unfortunately, a real phenomenon. And you can not close your eyes to it. According to statistics, more than 75% of eighth graders take alcohol or tried it to some extent, and by the 11th grade this indicator increases almost to 100%. Scary numbers. What are the causes of teenage alcoholism and how to deal with the child's addiction to alcohol?

[1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

How many students worship Bacchus?

These figures show the research conducted by Moscow sociologists. Polls showed that 70% of sixth graders tried alcohol and even bought them themselves. This "consumer basket" included beer, champagne, wine and vodka. A complete gentleman's set. Among the eighth graders, the number of teenagers who have tried alcohol increases to 75%, of which more than 11% are already at risk of those who develop an addiction to alcoholism.

In 11 graders, the number of those who try alcohol from time to time is almost 100%. And 45% of these boys and girls periodically, once a month, indulge in alcohol, up to 21% of children consume alcohol-containing drinks 2 times a month, and almost 30% of 11th graders drink alcohol at least once a week. The last two figures are more than dangerous: drinking alcohol more than twice a week in adolescence causes a risk of alcoholism.

Adolescent alcoholism: statistics

Numbers of numerous studies conducted with schoolchildren in different years indicate that adolescent alcoholism tends to increase more than to decrease. So, important facts about adolescent alcoholism.

In more than 60% of cases, it is parents who are accustomed to alcoholism in children. This happens from the age of 10 years.

Boys in the youngest adolescence (10-13 years) begin to try alcohol 4 times more often than girls. At boys introduction to alcoholic beverages occurs faster, than at girls. The peak of familiarizing with alcoholic beverages for girls falls on 15 years, and for boys this age is much less - from the age of 13.

More than 76% of schoolchildren who consume alcoholic beverages poorly learn the teaching material, up to a quarter of them study secondary education and only slightly more than 1% of children study above the average. But these indicators of good study among adherents of alcohol decrease with age and depend on the degree of entrainment with alcohol.

About half of teenagers who like to indulge in alcohol, either read very little, or do not read at all. We are not talking about educational material, but about fiction - at least some books.

Children who drink alcohol often come from families where more than 6% of parents drink alcohol, and in 60% of families only dad is fond of alcohol. Among teenagers who take alcohol, there is not a single family where parents completely deny alcohol.

Among adolescents who drink alcohol, more than 50% of children do not receive enough attention from their parents and are left to themselves. Up to 52% of such families are characterized by tension in relations between parents, constant quarrels and fights.

Education of parents of those teenagers who consume alcohol does not reach a level higher than vocational.

The percentage of single-parent families or re-marriage among parents of teenagers prone to alcohol reaches 50%. Sociologists note that in those families where only one parent or a non-parent parent brings up children, a tendency to alcoholism among adolescents is observed 3 times more often.

Very often in those children, where the father is an alcoholic, the child also becomes an alcoholic. Such children are 4 times more than in those families where the father does not drink. True, there is a reverse situation: a child from a drinking family categorically does not accept alcohol throughout his life. But such situations are less frequent.

[6], [7], [8], [9]

Why do teens take alcohol?

The reasons that teenagers take alcohol, and then do it more often, mostly psychological. Children who are all well, are rarely addicted to alcohol. They just have no time - they are busy. In addition, successful children more and more take on responsibilities and find new hobbies.

Children who have low self-esteem or unsuccessful, single-parent families suffer from alcohol dependence more often than children from happy families.

The reasons for the first sample of alcohol are simple. At the junior school age (from 10 years), children first taste alcohol at family celebrations. At an older age, schoolchildren try alcohol for the first time, mostly in peer companies. In rare cases, adolescents try alcohol on their own, "out of interest." It should be noted that children for the first time (and then later) try alcohol only in company with someone. To one it is uninteresting.

A very important and common cause of teenage alcoholism is advertising on TV. "It's fashionable, pleasant and respectable to drink," says an advertisement of expensive cognac or, more often, cheap beer. And children are bought for this advertisement, because in adolescence, the need for recognizing one's own "I" - to be fashionable and steep, to be as good as others at the expense of alcohol drinking with friends, is growing as never before.

Another reason that teens drink alcohol is "drink everything". If you drink in the family, and it's fun. If you drink in the company of friends, and this is also fun, then I'll drink it.

An inexpensive price for alcoholic beverages, in particular, for beer, from which an addiction to alcohol begins - is another reason for teenage alcoholism. Cocktails in a nightclub, which are an indispensable attribute of a club holiday, are also attractive for teenagers. In addition, in many clubs a teenager does not have the right to stay in a disco if he does not buy at least one cocktail. It forms a habit.

Even if the cocktail is low-alcoholic, addiction to alcohol will also take place. A prestigious cocktail - a combination of natural juice with natural vodka or gin, or diluted whiskey - does not contribute to a sober way of life. Two years of such low-alcohol cocktails about once a week or two - and a teenager can not do without such doping, during this period, addiction to alcohol is formed.

Family causes of teenage alcoholism

The hereditary causes of adolescent alcoholism are very frequent. The child whose parents drank before his birth is 3 times more likely to become an alcoholic in adolescence than in healthy children. Propensity to alcoholism can be inherited.

Family reasons for the constant intake of alcohol by adolescents may be:

• The poor situation in the family (conflict between father and mother)
• Incomplete family
• Parent's Hyperopeca
• Parents' violence towards each other and to the child
• Excessive democracy in relation to the child, lack of any control by the mother and father, permissiveness
• Involve children in drunkenness on the part of parents, which is not prosecuted by law

[10], [11], [12], [13], [14]

Important facts about the properties of alcohol

The daily dose of alcohol, which does not pose a threat to the life of an adult - up to 60 grams of pure alcohol, which equals to 150 grams of 45% degree vodka. If you drink more, it is addictive and over time - after 1.5-2 years - irreversible changes in the body, disruption of most of its systems.

As for adolescents, for them, this dose is deadly, and addiction occurs much earlier than in adults - in just a few months.

Bad sign - when a teenager enjoys drinking alcohol. Even if it concerns beer. Studies show that beer alcohol dependence in adolescents develops much faster than from strong drinks. In addition, in girls, beer is much more addictive than boys, and addiction is developing much faster.

How does the life of a teenager change after getting used to alcohol?

Taking alcohol, teenagers risk, first of all, oppression of reproductive functions. Against the background of alcoholism impotence in young men often develops and the quality of sperm decreases - it becomes much less active. But in men, reproductive function can be restored in half a year after the termination of drinking alcohol, and in girls the destroyed reproductive system is not restored. This often threatens infertility and impaired desire.

When a teenager often consumes alcohol, he starts taking his doses for granted. To get used to a teenager it is enough to drink beer at least once or twice a week. Such a frequency, if a teenager does not stop drinking within two to three months, drug experts qualify as a systematic abuse of alcohol.

Parents need to know that teenagers who drink alcohol for more than 2-3 months get used to it much faster than adults. Addiction can cause even a small, at the sight of parents, a dose: up to 100 grams of vodka. The younger the child who tastes alcohol, the sooner he gets used to it. At the same time, the resistance to intoxication in a teenager is getting higher, he brags to friends that "alcohol does not take him at all and he can drink as much as he likes." Meanwhile, this is far from the case. Regardless of whether a teenager experiences the process of intoxication or not, alcohol still does his black work, destroying the body gradually, imperceptibly.

Addiction to alcohol in adolescents is divided into categories (they are differentiated by drug treatment doctors)

1. Drinking alcohol as an experiment (sometimes a teen tries alcohol from interest)
2. Drinking spirits sporadically (a teenager sometimes indulges in alcohol)
3. The systematic drinking of alcohol (at least once a week for 2-3 months)

If a teenager is accustomed to alcohol, it depresses his psyche - the joy after taking alcohol is replaced by depressive states. Children, sometimes or constantly taking alcohol, are no longer as socially active as their non-drinking peers, they are more vulnerable and less active than before. Kindness alternates with increased aggression and rudeness, especially in relation to loved ones, family members. A teenager can become withdrawn, embittered, rude. He is inherent in alcohol dependence to be sentimental, to cry at the sight of a crippled dog, but at the same time ruthlessly beat a peer.

Another characteristic feature for teenagers prone to alcoholism is fun and ease only among themselves. Such children can surprisingly rally in groups and visit those alcoholic children who were hospitalized for compulsory treatment, support it and again draw them into their circle. Also these children, closed with the rest, easily find a common language with adults who abuse alcohol. That is - with those whom they take for their own.

How to treat children's alcoholism?

If the parents missed the moment and the child became an alcoholic, it should be treated long and patiently. It's not easy, parents may need a lot of time and energy. But first of all it is necessary to diagnose this disease and to enable the child to understand that this is a disease, and not "an occupation that he can at any time give up."

Children's alcoholism is dangerous precisely because accustoming arises very quickly. Therefore, in the treatment of adolescent alcoholism it is necessary to work in two directions: psychology and medication. When fighting teenage alcoholism, it is very important to be treated in a hospital rather than at home, because at home parents will not be able to take into account all the nuances and control the teenager properly. Medicinal and herbal teas can be used, these are less safe methods of treatment than tablets and injections. But the doctors take into account the stage of development of teenage alcoholism: the more addictive, the more serious methods are used to save the child from the embrace of the green snake.

After treatment, you need to wait for a period of remission. At this time, the child needs to take something useful: a favorite hobby, a sport that a teenager likes (by no means to force!), Trips with parents to interesting places. Adolescent alcoholism will win, the main thing is to diagnose it on time and not give up.