Can youthful alcohol abuse be prevented?

Yes, but because alcohol abuse can lead to alcohol dependence, or alcoholism, it’s imperative to understand how that can happen and to learn how to stop alcohol abuse in its early stages. Some youngsters are susceptible to alcohol dependence for a number of reasons. There are not only psychological reasons to abuse alcohol but also a genetic disposition to alcohol dependence.

Other youngsters are predisposed to alcohol dependence due to parents’ modeling, teen oriented beverage alcohol advertising, their high school or college’s tolerance of teen and young adult drinking and binge drinking, peer pressure, and how available alcohol is to them -- and the age they were when they first start drinking.

How parents can help their child avoid drinking alcoholic beverages

Just as there are a number of reasons teens (and below) and young adults drink heavily, there are a number of avenues to help them avoid drinking alcoholic drinks. They include:

 Encourage open communication within the family

 Monitor alcohol use in your home

 Know your child’s friends and their families

 Set a good example with your own alcohol use

 Do not, in any way, support teen drinking

 Do not allow your children to be in a car with a driver who has been drinking

 Set rules that make it very clear that drinking while under the age limit of 21 is a zero tolerance rule in your family

 If liquor of any kind – including beer – is served at a teen party, they must leave and return home.

 Talk to your spiritual leader(s) about the role they can play in guiding youths to alcohol-free lives

 Help you child build healthy friendships with youths who do not drink and who are healthy influences on your child.

 Educate your self about the consequences of underage and binge drinking and share the information with your child. Share your values on alcohol abuse and its consequences

 Investigate the college your child may attend. Do this before you make a commitment to any college. If colleges understand they may lose students – and their tuitions – by permitting or tacitly encouraging heavy or binge drinking on their campuses, they may decide to step up to the plate and enforce more protective alcohol policies on campus.

 Become involved in community efforts to monitor and decrease youth access to alcohol.

This may seem like a real struggle but trust me, prevention is a lot easier and more life enhancing than after the fact struggles for recovery. Perhaps a life long struggle and relapses that set everyone back to step one.