Transcript Document

Chapter 12: Teens and Alcohol
12.1 Understanding Teens and Alcohol
Why Teens Drink
• There are many reasons why teens may drink.
• Social settings encourage drinking, beer ads show popular people
drinking and having a good time, alcohol is sold in grocery stores and
convenience stores, and some adults may make it easy to get and
even offer teens a drink.
• Often, teens drink because they are curious about what other people
are doing.
12.1 Understanding Teens and Alcohol
Why Teens Drink
• You may see drinkers enjoying themselves, and want to try it.
• It is common for teens to see older family members, relatives, or
family friends drinking after work or on weekends.
• It is perfectly normal for teens to be curious about drinking.
• Some teens drink because of peer pressure.
• Peer pressure is a feeling that you should do something because your
friends want you to.
12.1 Understanding Teens and Alcohol
Why Teens Drink
• Teens do not to feel left out.
• If friends are drinking and having a good time, it can be challenging to
resist the pressure to join in.
• Some teens may think that drinking makes them look and feel like
adults.
• They feel more mature with a drink in their hand.
• Some teenagers are unhappy and hope that alcohol will make them
feel better.
• But there are no good reasons for teens to drink.
12.1 Understanding Teens and Alcohol
Teens and Alcohol
• Why is alcohol bad for teens?
• One reason is that teens are still growing.
• Teens bodies may continue to grow into their early twenties.
• Teens’ brains are still developing, and alcohol can have serious effects
on a brain that is growing and changing.
12.1 Understanding Teens and Alcohol
Teens and Alcohol
• Another reason is that teens’ emotional responses are changing.
• Teens are making the change from being a child to being a young adult.
• Sometimes the emotional part of growing up is the hardest part of all.
• Alcohol may effect emotions in many different ways.
• Alcohol may produce conflicting, unexpected, or even uncontrollable
feelings.
• You can’t predict what those feelings will be, or whether they will be
pleasant or unpleasant.
12.1 Understanding Teens and Alcohol
Teens and Alcohol
• But you do not have to drink.
• The truth is that most adults have less than one
alcoholic drink a month or don’t drink at all.
• People have a variety of reasons for not drinking.
• For some not drinking is a personal choice.
• Other people do not drink because they feel
better able to meet their personal duties and
responsibilities if they do not drink.
• Other people do not drink for religious beliefs,
family values, or health problems.
• Any reason for not drinking is a good reason.
12.1 Understanding Teens and Alcohol
12.1 Learning Objectives
• List three reasons why teens drink.
• Identify three reasons for not drinking.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol in Your Body
• Alcohol is a drug.
• A drug is any substance that changes how the mind or body works.
• Alcohol does have a powerful effect on how your mind and body
work.
• As you drink alcohol, it goes from the mouth to the stomach and then
to the intestines.
• Most alcohol quickly enters the blood stream through the stomach
and intestines.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol in Your Body
• Most alcohol quickly enters the blood stream through the stomach
and intestines.
• Blood carries alcohol to every tissue and organ.
• Alcohol in the blood quickly reaches the brain, where its effects begin
immediately.
• Blood also carries alcohol to the liver, where alcohol is converted into
harmless waste products.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol in Your Body
• Even though your body processes like food, it has no nutritional value.
• In fact, when your body breaks down alcohol, it stops making and
storing glucose.
• Glucose is the sugar your body uses as a source of energy.
• So, if you drink too much alcohol, your body cannot process your food
properly.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol in Your Body
• In addition to affecting your digestive system, alcohol is a depressant.
• A depressant is a drug that slows brain and body functions.
• Drinking too much alcohol is a drug overdose and may slow your
bodily functions so much that they may stop.
• This overdose is called alcohol poisoning.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol and Your Brain
• As a depressant, alcohol slows the activities of your body’s central
nervous system (CNS), which is made up of your brain and your spinal
cord.
• Alcohol slows your thinking, your reactions, and your breathing.
• It slows your speech, blurs your vision, and interferes with your
muscle coordination.
• Alcohol also has negative effects on your brain functions such as
learning, motivation, and emotions.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol and Your Brain
• The more alcohol that is the blood, the more
serious the effects on the CNS and all the
things it controls.
• For example, alcohol slows the nerves that
control your heart and your breathing. A fatal
dose will stop these functions.
• How much is a fatal dose? It depends on the
person and how much alcohol is in his/her
blood.
• Generally, a blood alcohol concentration of
0.40 or above will be fatal to most people.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol and Your Brain
• Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC), also called
blood alcohol level, is the percentage of
alcohol in a person’s blood.
• For example, a BAC of 0.10 percent means
that you have 10 parts of alcohol per 10,000
parts of blood in your body.
• A drinker’s BAC is affected by the a number of
factors, such as his/her weight, how many
drinks were consumed, and whether or not
he/she had eaten recently.
• Even one drink in an hour produces effects on
the brain in many drinkers.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol and Your Brain
• The figure shows BAC and the
predictable effects.
• A person with a BAC of 0.08 is
legally drunk in all states.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Short-Term Reactions to Alcohol
• Each body reacts differently to alcohol.
• As BAC rises, intoxication occurs.
• Intoxication is the physical and mental changes produced by drinking
alcohol.
• After one or two drinks, some people will experience increased
energy, positive feelings, and less anxiety.
• Other people feel less shy or cautious, other people feel more quiet
and calm, while others feel sad and or negative.
• And some, feel no effects at all.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Short-Term Reactions to Alcohol
• Several factors affect the way a body reacts to alcohol.
• For example, a person who has several drinks in a short time is likely
to be effected more than a person who has a single drink.
• Women absorb and process alcohol differently from men. They
achieve a higher BAC than do men who drink the same amount.
• As BAC increases, mental and physical abilities decline.
• Moods are effected first, then physical abilities, then memory.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Short-Term Reactions to Alcohol
• Muscle coordination, especially important for
walking and driving decreases.
• Vision becomes blurred.
• Speech and memory are impaired.
• Reaction time slows.
• Reaction time is the amount of time that passes
from the instant when your brain detects an external
stimulus until the moment you respond.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Short-Term Reactions to Alcohol
• At higher BAC levels, your central nervous system slows down so
much that your might pass out or even die.
• And nothing speeds the process to sober you up-nor coffee, cold
showers, or exercise.
Alcohol and your Brain (7:43)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXjANz9r5F0
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol Abuse
• Young people who start drinking alcohol at an
early age or who drink regularly are more likely
to abuse alcohol later in life.
• Alcohol abuse is the failure in moderation or at
appropriate times.
• Regular alcohol use causes drinkers to develop
a tolerance to alcohol’s effects.
• Tolerance for alcohol means that a person
needs more alcohol to produce the same
effects.
• Tolerance may be a sign of a drinking problem.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol Abuse
• Young people who drink alcohol may damage
their brain and nervous system.
• Young drinkers are more likely to show
impaired memory and to perform poorly in
school.
• Their verbal skills may be reduced and never
catch up.
• Long-term alcohol abuse increases the risk of
illnesses such as strokes, heart disease,
cancer, and liver diseases such as hepatitis
and cirrhosis.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol Abuse
• Alcohol abuse doesn’t only mean drinking too much.
• It also means drinking at the wrong time.
• Even one drink at the wrong time or wrong place may be alcohol
abuse.
• Alcohol abuse can lead to car crashes, or to death through drowning
or overdose.
• Your risk of injury or permanent disability grows with every drink.
• As your mental and physical abilities are impaired, you are less able to
protect yourself and others.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
Alcohol Abuse
• You are more likely to become a victim of physical or sexual assault.
• The consequences of an assault may be pregnancy or sexually
transmitted diseases, including HIV infection.
• Alcohol abuse also makes depression, family problems, and violence
more likely.
12.2 Alcohol and Your Body
12.2 Learning Objectives
• Describe what happens to alcohol in the body.
• Identify three short-term effects of alcohol.
• Describe two effects of alcohol abuse.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Decision Making
• Alcohol makes it more difficult to think clearly about
your choices.
• It makes remembering all your options less likely.
• Alcohol affects your memory.
• You may forget what you said or did.
• Alcohol also affects your ability to process
information.
• As a result,, you may ignore, misunderstand, or not
recognize a dangerous situation.
• You may not notice that the driver of a car is drunk,
or you may not care.
• Either way, alcohol has affected your ability to make a
good decision.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Decision Making
• Alcohol harms your coordination, slows your reactions, and changes
the way you see situations.
• As a result, low risk situations may become high risk ones.
• For example, activities such as swimming or cycling become more
difficult and dangerous.
• You may take risks you usually do not take and increase your chances
of having a serious, or even deadly, accident.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Social Decisions
• Alcohol also affects the decisions you make in
social situations.
• Intoxicated people are less likely to think about
how their decisions will influence their lives.
• Intoxication can easily lead to dangerous
decisions and dangerous behaviors.
• For example, drinking makes you less careful
about your sexual behaviors.
• The chances increase for unplanned, unprotected,
and unwanted sex.
• This increases the risk of becoming pregnant
and/or getting a sexually transmitted disease that
have consequences that can be life changing.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Social Decisions
• Alcohol may change your feelings.
• You may become very happy and silly, very sad, very
angry, or even violent.
• Alcohol may make you forget your values.
• As a result you make say or do something that you
regret later on.
• Alcohol’s social effects are even stronger in people who
binge drink.
• Binge drinking for men is drinking five or more drinks in
one sitting and for women is drinking four or more
drinks in one sitting.
• Binge drinking increases the chances that drinkers will
be involved in violence or other harmful behavior.
• But even one drink can lead to unpleasant and
unhappy results.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Violence
• Alcohol and violence often go together because alcohol can reduce a
drinker’s self-control.
• In fact, some people think drinking causes their behaviors.
• Some people use alcohol as an excuse for their actions.
• Silliness, rude behavior, fighting, and sexual aggression are not caused by
drinking.
• The way you behave when you are drunk is heavily influenced by your
personal values, your expectations of what will happen, and the social
setting where you are drinking.
• Drinking is never an excuse for violence.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Violence
• Alcohol does not cause violence, but it does make violence more likely.
• Alcohol makes conflict more difficult to control by making emotions and
behaviors seem stronger.
• Some people who drink become upset or angry easily; they become rude
or want to argue; they make insults, careless threats, arguments, and fights
become more likely.
• Someone who is drinking may have trouble understanding what other
people are trying to say; he or she may imagine an insult or feel
threatened; he or she may want to start a fight without worrying who gets
hurt.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Violence
• In some cases, an intoxicated person who is depressed or unhappy may
even try to hurt themselves.
• Someone who is drinking is also more likely to become a victim of violence.
• That’s because intoxication reduces your ability to defend yourself.
• Drinking also reduces your alertness to danger signs or risky situations.
• When you are intoxicated, you become an easier target for assault,
battering, robbery, or rape.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Pregnancy
• Alcohol poses special risks for a
fetus.
• When a pregnant women drinks
alcohol, some of the alcohol in
the mother’s blood passes into
the fetus’s blood.
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a
group of birth defects that can
happen when a pregnant women
drink alcohol.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
Alcohol and Pregnancy
• The birth defects can range from mild, such as small size at birth, to severe.
• The more-severe effects may include brain damage, mental retardation, and
severe emotional problems as the child grows up.
• Individuals with FAS often have difficulties with learning, memory, attention,
problem solving, and interacting with other people in social situations.
• There is no known safe level of drinking during pregnancy.
• Avoiding alcohol totally prevents FAS.
12.3 Alcohol, You, and Other People
12.3 Learning Objectives
1. Explain how alcohol can lead to bad decisions and violence.
2. Explain how a person’s decision to drink alcohol may affect other
people.
3. Identify three effects of fetal alcohol syndrome.
12.4 Drunk Driving
Drinking and Driving Is Dangerous!
• Alcohol makes driving, and other activities so
dangerous because it effects every part of the body
and mind that a person needs for safe driving.
• Alcohol makes driving mistakes and crashes more
likely.
• These often lead to injuries and death.
• Every state has laws that make driving under the
influence of alcohol illegal.
• Driving under the influence (DUI) happens when a
person who is legally intoxicated or who is using illegal
drugs drives a motor vehicle.
12.4 Drunk Driving
Drinking and Driving Is Dangerous!
• In all states, a person is legally
intoxicated his or her BAC is greater
than 0.08.
• Also, in all states, a person under the
age 21 is legally intoxicated if his or her
BAC is above 0.00.
• People convicted of DUI, whatever their
age, may lose their driver’s license or
permit.
• A DUI conviction may mean no more
driving for months or years and serving
time in a state penitentiary.
12.4 Drunk Driving
What Can You Do About Drunk Driving?
• You can’t always control what other people do, but
you can control and protect yourself.
• Don’t ride with a person who has been consuming
alcohol.
• Get home some other way, or try and arrange a ride
beforehand.
• You can help protect others., too.
• If a friend is about to drive after drinking, try and stop
him or her.
• Do not ride along.
• No matter what you hear, there is no way for anyone
to sober up quickly.
• So be safe, not sorry.
12.4 Drunk Driving
What Can You Do About Drunk Driving?
• What else can you do to prevent drunk driving?
• You can join others in groups to prevent DUI, such as SADD (Students
Against Drunk Driving) or MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).
• Stay away from people who drink and drive.
• Take control of your life and stay safe.
Choices: The Dangers of Drunk Driving (2:52)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6OqMgqtlo4
tribute to drunk driving fatalities (4:10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_rjnx_OebY
12.4 Drunk Driving
12.4 Learning Objectives
• Explain how alcohol affects a person’s ability to drive.
• Identify two ways that you can prevent drinking and driving.
12.5 Alcoholism
What is Alcoholism?
• Alcoholism is an illness.
• Alcoholism is a physical and psychological dependence on alcohol.
• Symptom’s of Alcoholism are: strong need for a drink; inability to stop
or limit drinking; an increase tolerance for alcohol; and a physical
dependence on alcohol.
• Like other illnesses, alcoholism may get worse if it is not treated.
• Alcoholism may lead to death.
12.5 Alcoholism
What is Alcoholism?
• Alcoholism has different causes.
• Frequent heavy drinking will change your body’s reactions to alcohol
and result in dependence.
• Alcoholism may partly be hereditary, because certain genes seem to
make alcoholism more likely.
• But family environment, especially in childhood, and your choice of
friends may be stronger influences.
12.5 Alcoholism
What is Alcoholism?
• Alcoholism is not automatic.
• It occurs in families with or without a history of alcoholism.
• Not all children whose parents have alcoholism become alcoholics.
• People who start drinking as adults are less likely to develop
alcoholism than people who start drinking in their teens.
12.5 Alcoholism
What is Alcoholism?
• Alcoholism is an illness that not only affects the individual, but also
everyone in the Alcoholic’s life.
• A person with alcoholism may become violent and hurt family
members, or may be moody and unpredictable.
• Family members don’t know what to expect from their loved one.
• Parents with alcoholism cannot meet their duties or provide
emotional support to their children.
• They may lose their job and create serious financial problems for their
family.
12.5 Alcoholism
Overcoming Alcoholism
• There is no cure for alcoholism, but it is treatable.
• Not drinking, at all, or abstinence from alcohol, is the best treatment.
• When a alcoholic stops drinking, they may experience withdrawal.
• Withdrawal is the reaction the body goes through when it does not get a
drug that it is dependent on.
• Withdrawal symptoms for Alcoholism often include:
1. Severe headaches
2. Extreme nervousness
3. seizures
• Medical help may be needed to get through withdrawal.
12.5 Alcoholism
Overcoming Alcoholism
• A person with alcoholism will always be addicted to alcohol.
• But many people with alcoholism do recover and stay sober by seeking
treatment and help.
• Recovery is learning to live without alcohol.
• Recovery means that the drinker-not alcohol-is in control.
• Recovery from alcoholism requires that the person wants to stop drinking.
• Recovery is possible with medication, and with the support and help of
other people.
• Treatment consists of medical help and counseling.
12.5 Alcoholism
Overcoming Alcoholism
• Groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, may provide help and support
for the person with Alcoholism.
• Counseling also helps families affected by alcoholism.
• Alanon and Alateen help families cope with alcoholism’s effects.
• Teenage children whose parent has alcoholism can ask a trusted adult
for help.
• Together they can find a program that provides assistance
12.5 Alcoholism
12.5 Learning Objectives
• Identify three factors that can contribute to a person developing
alcoholism.
• Explain how alcoholism may affect an alcoholic’s family.
12.6 Resisting the Pressure to Drink
Pressures to Drink
• Society provides all kinds of pressures to
drink.
• For teens, peer pressure may be the strongest
pressure of all.
• Peers may make you feel that if you don’t
drink, you’ll be left out and alone.
• Resisting peer pressure is one of the hardest
things for teens to do.
• That is why choosing friends who do not drink
is so important.
12.6 Resisting the Pressure to Drink
Pressures to Drink
• Another source of pressure to drink is
advertisements for alcohol.
• Alcohol advertising is in magazines and on TV and
radio.
• There are ads at sports arena’s and on buses and
trucks.
• The message in the ads is that alcohol is a normal
part of life.
• The ads want to convince you that drinking is fun.
12.6 Resisting the Pressure to Drink
Pressures to Drink
• That is why they never show sick, unhappy,
injured, or lonely drinkers.
• People in the ads are good-looking, smart, happy,
athletic, and popular.
• Sometimes, teens hope that drinking will make
them look like the adults in the ad.
• Some teens may actually think that drinking is the
only way to have a good time.
12.6 Resisting the Pressure to Drink
Knowing What You Want
• Messages in ads for alcohol may make knowing what
you really want more difficult.
• Alcohol advertising targets parts of you that may not
feel good about, such as appearance or popularity.
• This ads aim for your fears or your hopes.
• Or, if your bored, the ads make drinking seem
exciting and fun.
• How can you make it through all the messages about
drinking that you get?
• You can start by knowing what is right for you.
12.6 Resisting the Pressure to Drink
Knowing What You Want
• Knowing what you want is a lot easier if you take
some time to think about it.
• Try to sort it out with the help of someone you trust.
• Remember, no matter what the ads tell you, most
adults and teens either don’t drink at all or drink
very rarely.
• To drink or not to drink is only one of thousands of
choices that teens have to make.
• Knowing what is best for you helps you make smart
choices.
12.6 Resisting the Pressure to Drink
Knowing What You Want
• Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What makes you happy?
2. What do you do to feel good or feel adult and in
charge?
3. How can drinking hurt you or get you in trouble?
4. What pressures to drink do you feel?
5. How can you avoid or stop those pressures?
• If you’ve already decided not to drink, or not to
drink again, good for you.
• Answers to the questions above will help you focus
on the important things in your life and will help you
make good decisions about many different things.
12.6 Resisting the Pressure to Drink
12.6 Learning Objectives
• Identify three pressures to drink that teens face.
• Explain how people can be influenced by advertisements for
alcohol.
• Identify three questions that can help you resist the pressures to
drink.
12.7 Alternatives to Alcohol
Friends and Fun
• If you are struggling with a decision about drinking
alcohol, one of your best sources of help may be
your friends.
• Friends are usually people you like, trust, talk to,
and have a good time with.
• Your real friends will not pressure you to drink.
• You will want to go with your friends to places
where you can do things you enjoy.
• Being with friends who do not drink will keep the
pressure to drink off of you.
• Pick your friends carefully.
12.7 Alternatives to Alcohol
Friends and Fun
• Many activities, such as sports teams, school and religious groups,
and community volunteering, provide fun ways to avoid alcohol.
• Join a group that does things you enjoy, and you may not have time to
worry about drinking.
• Every community has fun things to do, so look around.
12.7 Alternatives to Alcohol
Friends and Fun
• Another way to prevent the pressure to drink
from getting to you is to find a hobby.
• A hobby is something you like to do or to study in
your spare time.
• Only you can say what interests you and bores
you.
• Look for clubs or groups focused on an activity
that you enjoy.
• These are good places to meet new friends.
12.7 Alternatives to Alcohol
Resources for Emotional Problems
• If you have a problem with alcohol, talking to
someone you trust may help.
• Major problems may require more help than your
friends can provide.
• But there is help around you.
• Adults may have some experience and suggestions
about help fro drinking problems that they can
offer.
• Don’t wait.
• If you need help, ask someone you trust.
12.7 Alternatives to Alcohol
Resources for Emotional Problems
• Sometimes, it is a friend who needs help.
• Be a good listener.
• Don’t judge him or her.
• And if the alcohol problems are too difficult for you or
your friend to handle, help your friend find someone
who can help.
• Seeking professional help is especially important for
problems involving alcohol.
• If you don’t know where to start, ask a trusted adult
for suggestions.
12.7 Alternatives to Alcohol
12.7 Learning Objectives
• Describe two ways to have fun without using alcohol.
• Identify three sources of help for drinking problems.
Chapter 12 Test Review
CRITICAL THINKING
1. Explain how the chance of violent conflict increases when the people involved have been drinking alcoholic beverages.
2. Describe what might happen to someone who develops a drinking problem as a teen and how that outcome might be
avoided.
1. Describe the behavior of someone at a party who has had four
alcoholic drinks in one hour.
2. What is the BAC of someone who has had two alcoholic
drinks in one hour?
3. Someone whose coordination is significantly impaired has a
BAC of what?
4. Describe how alcohol may affect someone who is driving
after having three alcoholic drinks in one hour.