The Significance of Binge Drinking
Like your glass of wine or stop for a happy hour drink, your teen may feel like they have worked hard all week and would like to relax and unwind with a cool one. 
Teen drinking is not only significant because it is underage drinking, but there are more harmful effects with binge drinking than with daily drinking (1) although both can lead to problems with alcohol in the long run. Teens do what comes easy and they know it is easy to drink on the weekend than in the middle of the week. So you’ll find that teens focus their drinking on certain days and times creating the opportunity to binge. An epidemiological study done in Germany showed the more episodes of binge drinking the more harmful societal effects (1). Harmful societal effects associated with binge drinking especially for teens can mean:
1. Death
Death from injury due to accidents associated or caused by alcohol intake. The leading cause of death among teens is injury and accidents and the leading cause of these injuries and accidents is alcohol. Therefore those who use alcohol are more likely to be involved in an automobile accident.
2. Violence
Ninety-five percent of violent crimes on college campuses are a result of alcohol intake. Twenty-three percent experienced unwanted sexual advances caused by those under the influence of alcohol. In general binge drinkers cause more problems via unplanned sex, hitting, insulting and damage to property than nondrinkers. Alcohol is also more likely to be involved with harmful behaviors and other causes of teen death like homicide, suicide, contraction of sexually transmitted disease (STD) and unwanted pregnancy(2).
3. Consequences
Physical
The health consequences of drinking are very significant for those who choose to partake. The health risks can include but are not limited to changes in the lining of the stomach, function of the liver, changes in the brain’s ability to function and poor ability to excel at school work has been shown and unsafe sex or rape that occurs under the influence and the resulting termination or pregnancy. The physical change financial burden of being confined to a wheel chair or bed because of injuries form a car accident or being on the side of the road when the drunk driver hit you cannot be emphasized enough.
Social
There are social consequences of being incarcerated as a result of manslaughter either of those in the car with your teen or the ones that happened to be in the car or crosswalk near your teen’s car. This is the ripple effect on the community that teen’s don’t have the capacity to consider.
Psychological
Finally, there is the psychological change. It is difficult for an adult, but how much more a teen to live with the knowledge that your teen caused someone’s death or severe disfigurement. Of course being the result of anyone’s death is significant, but to know that it was your friend is so profound that it may take the lives of both teen’s ultimately either with guilt which can incapacitate someone or suicide from depression.
The end of the year involves many celebrations: prom, graduation and good-bye parties. There is no better time than the present to reiterate your stance on underage drinking and prevent your teen from either being a statistic by binge drinking or becoming a victim of binge drinking. Either way, your teen’s life will be changed forever.
References
1. Association of Average Daily Alcohol Consumption, Binge Drinking and Alcohol-Related Social Problems
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