A Teenager's Relationship With the Bottle

Just picture it. You're sixteen years old. You're going to a party for the first time. Someone hands you a red solo cup. What inhabits it is unknown. All of a sudden things become fuzzy. You begin to lose memory of what had happened. All of sudden you black out. You wake up from this daze and you're in a place you can't remember. Soon, this becomes routine for you, and you begin to do this on a weekly basis. 

This is the case for millions of teens. Some start older then 16. Some start younger. In a recent survey from SADD, 26.4 percent of people ages 12-20 have had an alcoholic beverage sometime in their lifetime. That means a 1/4 of society's teenagers have had a sip of alcohol on their lips. So, we begin to wonder what makes this statistic happen. Is it the fault of parental figure, or the fault of the teenage. It is similar to the argument that many psychologists make, nature vs nurture? 

There are many health aspects to drinking. When you're younger you tend not to think of the effects that you experience later in life of the decisions that you make in a single moment. Drinking is one of them. Alcohol when used right is an okay spice to life. However, when used in excess or too early in life, that's when the problems arise. That's when the blackouts happen, the hangovers, and the other negative things happen. Too much alcohol can lead to liver damage, and perhaps alcohol poisoning which can be deadly. So my question is why do so many teenagers enjoy the aspect of a drink at night? 

We hear it in health class. Just say no. It's on pencils, and engraved into our brains when we are little. However when we're teenagers the point in our lives when we rebel against everything our parents and teachers teach us, we begin to drink. It's an aspect of the forbidden fruit, when a parental figure says no, why should we listen?

Well, the aspect of the forbidden fruit does come into play. However, I believe that alcoholic beverages are similar to being able to take your license test. You have to reach a level of maturity or otherwise you begin to abuse the powers that come along with it. Sometimes, too much alcoholic beverages can lead to one thing. So, I vow to not take a drink unless it's legal. When I do drink, I do plan to drink in moderation, because I want to be able to say 'no' when a guy wants to have sex with me, and not have to worry about what stupid things that people took pictures of me doing. It's a decision I hope to be responsible, however as I look on social media sites I see several of my peers enjoying what comes in the bottle. It's their choice, and I respect it. However, I do ask them to respect mine in return.

Source: "SADD Statistics." SADD Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.