THINK AGAIN… about Adolescents and Alcohol
American Medical Association's report on alcohol's adverse effects on the brains of children, adolescents and college students
Harmful Consequences of Alcohol Use on the Brains of Children, Adolescents, and College Students (PDF, 69KB) is a compilation and summary of two decades of comprehensive research on how alcohol affects the brains of youth. The report's aggregation of extensive scientific and medical information reveals just how harmful drinking is to the developing brain and serves as a wakeup call to parents… and young drinkers themselves.
The average age of a child's first drink is now 12, and nearly 20 percent of 12 to 20 year-olds are considered binge drinkers. While many believe that underage drinking is an inevitable "rite of passage" that adolescents can easily recover from because their bodies are more resilient, the opposite is true.
The adolescent brain
The brain goes through dynamic change during adolescence, and alcohol can seriously damage long- and short-term growth processes. Frontal lobe development and the refinement of pathways and connections continue until age 16, and a high rate of energy is used as the brain matures until age 20. Damage from alcohol at this time can be long-term and irreversible. In addition, short-term or moderate drinking impairs learning and memory far more in youth than adults. Adolescents need only drink half as much to suffer the same negative effects.
Adverse effects of alcohol on the brain: research findings
Youth who drink can have a significant reduction in learning and memory, and teen alcohol users are most susceptible to damaging two key brain areas that are undergoing dramatic changes in adolescence:
- The hippocampus handles many types of memory and learning and suffers from the worst alcohol-related brain damage in teens. Those who had been drinking more and for longer had significantly smaller hippocampi (10 percent).
- The prefrontal area (behind the forehead) undergoes the most change during adolescence. Researchers found that adolescent drinking could cause severe changes in this area and others, which play an important role in forming adult personality and behavior and is often called the CEO of the brain.
Visit http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/no-index/physician-resources/9416.shtml for full report.
Submitted by Challengers of Oldham County and NOMS PTSA
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