What is, in your opinion, the cause of so much teen drinking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I don't think it's fun. I don't now, and I never have, including when I was a teenager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I don't think it's fun. I don't now, and I never have, including when I was a teenager.

Yeah, but you're in the minority. Kind of like people who don't like chocolate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I don't think it's fun. I don't now, and I never have, including when I was a teenager.

Yeah, but you're in the minority. Kind of like people who don't like chocolate.

OK, but if so, it's not a small minority. Probably if you're somebody who thinks it's fun to get drunk, you hang out with other people who think it's fun to get drunk, and then you assume that almost everybody thinks it's fun to get drunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I tend to think that teens who drink do it because they don't know how to have real fun. Music, sodas, good food, dancing the night as opposed to staring at your phone all night. It is the opposite of having fun. Real good time doesn't need alcohol. Slow dancing to Total Eclipse of the Heart all night didn't need any alcohol, in my time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I don't think it's fun. I don't now, and I never have, including when I was a teenager.

Yeah, but you're in the minority. Kind of like people who don't like chocolate.[/quote

Not in the minority, I never thought it was fun either. I stayed away from it, including drugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I tend to think that teens who drink do it because they don't know how to have real fun. Music, sodas, good food, dancing the night as opposed to staring at your phone all night. It is the opposite of having fun. Real good time doesn't need alcohol. Slow dancing to Total Eclipse of the Heart all night didn't need any alcohol, in my time.

Slow dancing all night is making out. Looks like you prefer sex to alcohol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I don't think it's fun. I don't now, and I never have, including when I was a teenager.

Yeah, but you're in the minority. Kind of like people who don't like chocolate.

Chocolate parallel is funny. I had a conversation with my teen about beer. His question was about getting tired of drinking beer. I said, that it's just like eating sweets, you simply don't want to eat them every day, no desire. It was lost on him, he said that he is never tired of sweets. I had to use junk food as an example then. That was understood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's really important to teach young women alcohol safety. I know so many who were raped or assaulted after drinking at a college party. It was devastating and affected them well into the future.

I think it's really important to teach young men alcohol safety. I know of so many who raped or assaulted people after drinking at a college party. It was devastating and affected them well into the future.

I don't think this has as much to do with alcohol. Guys shouldn't be creeps sober or drunk. A good guy doesn't turn into a creep with a couple of drinks. Guys who take advantage of or harm women are generally creeps all of the time. Drinking just gives them an excuse to act on their impulses while lessening the fear of being caught.

The most important alcohol safety to teach young men in this vein is consent. She has to affirmatively say yes and be sober enough to mean it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's really important to teach young women alcohol safety. I know so many who were raped or assaulted after drinking at a college party. It was devastating and affected them well into the future.

I think it's really important to teach young men alcohol safety. I know of so many who raped or assaulted people after drinking at a college party. It was devastating and affected them well into the future.

I don't think this has as much to do with alcohol. Guys shouldn't be creeps sober or drunk. A good guy doesn't turn into a creep with a couple of drinks. Guys who take advantage of or harm women are generally creeps all of the time. Drinking just gives them an excuse to act on their impulses while lessening the fear of being caught.

The most important alcohol safety to teach young men in this vein is consent. She has to affirmatively say yes and be sober enough to mean it.

I agree, but you also have to sober enough to be able to assess your potential partner's sobriety and consent.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, is drinking really that much different? I was in high school from 1979 through 1982 and there was the folllowing happening at many parties:
1. some kids sneaking liquor (beer, rum and coke, whatever) into house parties all the time
2. some kids asking older siblings/college friends to buy liquor for them. (drinking age was 21 years old in that state)
3. some kids knew which liquor stores didn't really card so they just bought there (this has been cleaned up now and I don't think they exist any longer)
4. some kids would get DRUNK! at parties - I mean falling down, puking, not walking a straight line, drunk.
5. some kids didn't get drunk like that
6. some parents were strict and supervised, monitored, etc
7. more parents just had the kids party in the basement, and they turned a blind eye. I went to many cast parties where there were 100 kids and 85% were BLOTTO DRUNK and the parents never were around. I've carried kids to cars, etc. when no parents were around. I don't know, did they lock themselves in their bedroom and figure "what I don't see isn't happening?" because it was happening!

8. and, yes, I'm sure there was some pot smoked, and some other stuff (although I never witnessed shooting up or whatever else) because in the 70s and 80s we were always having "anti drug" talks, lessons in school, assemblies, etc.

9. Mothers against Drunk Driving was "born" in the 80s - because many kids were drunk and then driving. Again, assemblies, etc. right before prom night, etc.

10. I don't know if it's worse or better now (I bet some things are worse, some are better) but I do think we need to take our blinders off and stop thinking of the "perfect olden days" - we were doing plenty of bad stuff, guys!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I don't think it's fun. I don't now, and I never have, including when I was a teenager.

You might not but most adults enjoy drinking because its fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking is fun. Has everyone forgotten this? That is why there is so much teen drinking.

I don't think it's fun. I don't now, and I never have, including when I was a teenager.

You might not but most adults enjoy drinking because its fun!

Probably fewer people drink -- and the ones who do drink, drink less -- than you think they do.

According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 86.4 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime; 70.1 percent reported that they drank in the past year; 56.0 percent reported that they drank in the past month.

In 2015, 26.9 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month ("binge drinking" = a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL, typically after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men in about 2 hours). 7.0 percent reported that they engaged in heavy alcohol use in the past month (binge drinking on 5 or more days in the past month.).

https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics

If you're an adult out of college who gets drunk regularly, you may have a problem with alcohol.

[Anonymous]

OP, where in Europe are you from? British teens could give American teens a run for their money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, where in Europe are you from? British teens could give American teens a run for their money.

I was thinking the same thing. When I moved to the UK in the 1990s, I was shocked at the drinking culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's because it's forbidden. Pure and simple. Teens drink because it's exotic and they want to try it. Lower the drinking age and teen drinking will go down. Not right away, but eventually, if kids learn to drink at home and responsibly, it wont be such a big deal.

See the post above. Teen drinking has been declining. The drinking age has gone UP.

Your statement is empirically wrong.