Reducing Underage Drinking A Collective Responsibility (2004) / Chapter Skim
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3 Health Consequences of Adolescent Alcohol Involvement--Sandra A. Brown and Susan F. Tapert
3 Health Consequences of Adolescent Alcohol Involvement--Sandra A. Brown and Susan F. Tapert
Pages 383-401
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From page 383... ...
In this chapter, we discuss how alcohol affects adolescent physical health, brain development, and mental health, as well as the common behavioral consequences of underage drinking. ACUTE EFFECTS Accidents The acute effects of alcohol consumption for adolescents depend on the blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
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From page 384... ...
As BACs rise, alcohol overdose can occur, resulting in respiration failure, suffocation, coma, and, in some cases, death. Alcohol intoxication produces diminished inhibition, increased violent behavior, and poor judgment that can result in being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and these factors all contribute to young deaths and injuries due to alcohol-related aggressive behavior.
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From page 385... ...
As early as adolescence, chronic heavy alcohol use has been shown to affect bones and the liver, and, as we detail in the following section, the brain. Bone Density and Growth Animal studies show that chronic alcohol consumption near the time of puberty in male rats leads to decreased bone volume in the limbs and the skull because of its effects on bone-forming cells, and normal bone metabolism does not generally resume after cessation of alcohol use (Wezeman et al., 1999)
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From page 386... ...
. These findings from animal models are supported by studies in humans showing that alcohol drinkers tend to have less bone mineral density, especially adolescent males (Neville et al., 2002)
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From page 387... ...
. To understand how alcohol use affects adolescent brain development, it is helpful to briefly review the maturational processes that occur during these years.
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From page 388... ...
Animal studies have suggested that alcohol affects adolescent brain development processes in several ways. A recent study gave adolescent and adult rats multiple episodes of large quantities of alcohol, mimicking the pattern characteristic of many U.S.
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Using this approach, alcohol-dependent youth were compared to healthy matched comparison youth as they performed a memory task. Participants with alcohol dependence showed significantly less brain response than controls as they performed the challenging memory task, especially in frontal and parietal (upper back of brain)
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From page 390... ...
It is now well known that when youth begin drinking alcohol before age 14, they have a 41 percent chance of developing alcohol dependence during their lifetime compared to individuals who wait to the legal drinking age of 21 when the risk is reduced to 10 percent (Grant and Dawson, 1997)
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From page 391... ...
. Although drinking patterns fluctuate throughout adolescence, the pattern of youth alcohol consumption is also predictive of later heavy drinking problems.
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From page 392... ...
Recent studies of youth with an alcohol use disorder indicate poorer outcomes for those with comorbid mental health disorders. In particular, disruptive disorders, anxiety disorders, and severity of psychiatric symptoms have been associated with higher relapse rates and greater severity of posttreatment drug involvement (Brown, 1999)
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From page 393... ...
To the extent that alcohol use during adolescence disrupts functioning in school or work, or produces interpersonal or psychological impairment, it alters the trajectory of development and reduces potential adult functioning. Unfortunately, substantial evidence shows that not only is alcohol abuse and dependence associated with problems in these domains, but even modest involvement during high school may create significant problems.
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From page 394... ...
Approximately 10 percent of high school seniors with alcohol experience said alcohol damaged friendships, hurt them emotionally, got them in trouble with police, and hurt their performance in school. Sexual Behavior The impaired judgment resulting from alcohol intoxication can result in risky, early, and unwanted sexual behaviors in youth, which may lead to unintended teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
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From page 395... ...
When adolescent alcohol problems are compounded by parental alcoholism, family communication patterns are marked by more negative affect and poorer problem-solving skills. As noted earlier, a variety of other problem and deviant behaviors cooccur with adolescent drinking (e.g., reckless driving, high-risk sexual behaviors)
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From page 396... ...
. Conduct disorder among adolescent alcohol and drug abusers.
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. Alcohol misuse and adolescent sexual behaviors and risk taking.
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From page 398... ...
. Gender differences in the associations between posttraumatic stress symptoms and prob lematic substance use in psychiatric inpatient adolescents.
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. Osteopenia due to chronic alcohol consumption by young actively growing rats is not completely reversible.
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From page 400... ...
. Mapping continued brain growth and gray matter density reduction in dorsal frontal cortex: Inverse rela tionships during postadolescent brain maturation.
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From page 401... ...
Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Yoshimoto, K., Hori, M., Sorimachi, Y., Watanabe, T., Tano, T., and Yasuhara, M
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