Stay Informed

Sign up for news & alerts

Already signed up?
Login here

take action
For every $1 states spend dollar sign on substance misuse and addiction, 94 cents go to shovel up the consequences instead of for treatment and prevention. TELL YOUR LEGISLATORS

What Can I Do?



Continuing Education
Free online courses for addiction counselors LEARN ONLINE

Get Help
Need alcohol or drug help for yourself or someone else? GET HELP

 
Alcohol, Adolescents, and Brain Damage
April 1, 2005

Share Share Email
Email
Print
Print
SubscribeSubscribe
Research Summary

The high prevalence and significant consequences of alcohol use among adolescents and college students are well known. To summarize the neurologic and neurocognitive effects of underage drinking, researchers systematically reviewed the literature and found the following:
  • Underage drinking substantially increases risk of developing an alcohol use disorder in adulthood.

  • Adolescents and young adults are more susceptible to the negative cognitive effects of alcohol than are adults.

  • Alcohol use can cause a host of immediate neurological consequences (e.g., blackouts, hangovers, overdose with respiratory arrest and death), cognitive dysfunction (e.g., memory, language, learning, and visuospatial problems), and sleep disturbance. These problems, along with mood disorders often associated with alcohol use, can impair intellectual development and academic performance -- impacting adolescents even after they become adults.

  • Alcohol use, which impairs motor skills and judgment, can contribute to motor vehicles crashes (and related injuries and death), other unintentional injuries, risky sexual behaviors, assault, suicide attempts, drowning, and other drug use among adolescents and young adults.
Comments by Rosanne T. Guerriero, MPH and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH: These well-documented, serious short- and long-term consequences underscore the danger of dismissing underage drinking as a normal "rite of passage" (e.g., "kids will be kids"). As stated by the authors, underage drinking must be addressed with a combination of individual strategies (e.g., identifying and counseling at-risk youth, parental education) and environmental efforts (e.g., curbing advertising and availability).

Reference:
Zeigler DW, Wang CC, Yoast RA, et al. The neurocognitive effects of alcohol on adolescents and college students. Prev Med. 2005;40(1):23-32.

Reprinted with permission from "Alcohol and Health: Current Evidence".

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:
(Comments now appear first to last)

Your Turn! Post a public comment (guidelines):

Name:

Comment:
(limit 250
words)
Enter this word
(help):		 Change

GUIDELINES: 
To keep this feature useful for everyone, please:

  1. Keep it clean, courteous, brief, and on-topic. Comments are for discussion of the above article, not general rants or manifestos. Serial comments intended to circumvent the 250-word limit may be deleted.

  2. Do not post promotional web links, personal information or requests for assistance (get help).

  3. Proof your comments carefully, use good spelling and punctuation, and don't use ALL CAPS. Comments are published immediately and cannot be edited.

Deceptive, slanderous and commercial posts are prohibited. We reserve the right to remove comments. (Report a comment).

Have questions or feedback? Contact us.