The Effects of Drinking Alcohol at a Young Age

It is sobering news: Decades of scientific research show that alcohol consumption alters the developing brain and causes irreversible physical damage. So says the American Medical Association. Couple that assessment with the fact that American youths, deluged with advertising that glamorizes alcohol consumption, take their first drinks on average at the age of 12, and it's apparent why the medical community is raising the red flag on teenage drinking. Nearly 20 percent of 12- to 20-year-olds report that they are binge drinkers, meaning they have four or five consecutive drinks on a regular basis.

Brain Damage

• Drinking alcohol poses several dangers to teenagers: physical, psychological and social. Adolescence is a time when the body is undergoing significant changes, including brain development, and exposing the brain to alcohol at a young age interrupts that process, a recent study shows. "Our brains go through important transformations during adolescence," says Dr. Sandra Brown of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Diego. "This study shows that alcohol use during the adolescent years is associated with damage to memory and learning capabilities as well as to the decision-making and reasoning areas in the brain." Magnetic resonance imaging of the brains of drinkers 14 to 21 years old shows measurable physical injury to the brain, the AMA reports.

Risky Behavior

• The dangers and sometimes-tragic consequences of teen drinking are apparent daily. Fatal motor vehicle crashes among alcohol-involved drivers ages 16 to 20 is more than double that of alcohol-affected drivers over age 21. Alcohol also exacerbates depression and stress and sometimes leads to suicide. A recent study shows that 37 percent of eighth-grade girls who drank heavily reported attempting suicide. Alcohol also has been shown to fuel high-risk sex and sexual assault among teenagers.

Chronic Problems

• Alcohol abuse also poses risks to a young person's social and family ties. Regular alcohol consumption among 12- to 16-year-olds "has been significantly associated" with conduct problems, including attention-deficit disorder, and weak social relationships, reports the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Adolescent binge drinking also sets the stage for alcoholism. Youths who begin drinking by age 15 run a far more significant risk of developing alcohol-dependence later in life, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Sober Up

• Measures to prevent alcohol abuse by teenagers include early intervention for the individual and community- and school-based education programs for groups. "Youth drinking requires significant attention, not because of what it leads to but because of the extensive human and economic impact of alcohol use by this vulnerable population," says Dr. Enoch Gordis, former director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The American Medical Association also endorses curtailment of alcohol advertising, especially on television during prime-time viewing. "It's time TV executives and the alcohol industry stop profiting at the hands of those most harmed by drinking," says Dr. J. Edward Hill, past president of the AMA.