Teen Binge Drinking

Research has revealed more evidence that teen binge drinking has long term consequences. Past research on marijuana use among pre-teens and teens has shown that the developing brain of a pre-teen or teen is negatively affected by pot use. Teens and pre-teens who use marijuana on a regular basis are at risk of developing persistent problems with memory and learning. Now, research shows that teen binge drinking likely creates changes in the developing brains of young people.

It makes sense to even a lay person, especially when the brain is still developing, that mood-altering chemicals poured into the brain repeatedly over a long period of time can have negative effects. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:

Adolescent binge drinking can disrupt gene regulation and brain development in ways that promote anxiety and excessive drinking behaviors that can persist into adulthood, according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.  A report of the study, conducted in animals by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, appears online in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.

“These findings are an important contribution to our understanding of the alcohol-induced brain changes that make alcohol problems in adulthood more likely among young people who abuse alcohol,” said NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D.

Previous studies have shown that people who start drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to meet the criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their lives, and young people consume more than 90 percent of their alcohol by binge drinking.

In a more permissive, worldly, sophisticated society, it’s difficult for parents to lay down fast and hard rules about drinking alcohol and smoking pot. There’s a pervasive idea that kids will drink and smoke pot as a form of passage into adulthood, and parents hope that their kids don’t develop a serious problem. As we learn more about brain development during childhood and adolescence, this old idea of inevitable drinking and pot smoking calls for re-evaluation. At least parents should tell teens and pre-teens the dangers of using mood-altering substances during the development years without a nod and a wink.