Dangers From Teenage Drinking

Teen alcohol use contributes to or causes 5,000 deaths of people younger than 21 years old every year. The teenage drinker puts himself and other people around him at risk.

Suicide

• Teens are still developing social skills and emotional control. Many teen drinkers use alcohol to escape their feelings and stresses. Ignoring feelings of depression, guilt or anger can ultimately lead to suicide. Teen suicide does not always relate to alcohol, but it adds more pressure to a stressed-out teen.

Homicide and Acts of Violence

• Teens who experience social issues with family or peers might start drinking to alleviate the stress of social anxieties or escape conflict. Teens who drink have slowed or halted their ability to think rationally, and might act out in dangerous ways, resulting in violence and possibly homicide.

Sexual Dangers

• Teens who drink alcohol are at risk for early sexual activity. They are twice as likely to engage in sexual acts and more likely to do so unprotected. The dangers of sexual activity as a result of alcohol use include unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and sexual assault victimization or perpetration.

Dangers of Drinking and Driving

• Teens are more likely than adults to experience impairment of driving skills while drinking, even when under a legal limit for adults. The same amount of alcohol might not affect an adult's driving skills. About 1,900 people younger than 21 die each year in accidents involving underage drinking.

Dangers Future Alcoholism

• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states teens who begin to drink alcohol before age 15 are five times more likely to become alcohol dependent as adults than drinkers starting at age 21. Statistics from that department also show more than 3 million teens are already full blown alcoholics before reaching age 21.