Risks of Alcohol Consumption in Today’s Youth

        As we know, adolescence is a critical period during human development as it represents an individual’s mental and physiological transition from childhood into adulthood. Unfortunately, the vast amount of growth and development that characterizes this phase of life is often hindered by excessive drug and alcohol abuse that is heavily idealized and marketed in today’s society, especially to youth. According to a 2011 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 21.91% of high school students surveyed admitted to having had five or more drinks of alcohol in a two-hour period—which is often the amount used in identifying alcoholism—within 30 days of taking the survey. Despite this prevalence of alcohol abuse in youth, little research has yielded significant results regarding the long-term neurobiological consequences of binge drinking at such a young age. Earlier in the semester, Dr. Magdalena Szymanska from the Department of Physiology at Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine presented her research on the effects of excessive alcohol consumption in adolescents, namely how this consumption affects the responsiveness of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis which plays a role in regulating blood hormone levels.

            For her research, Dr. Szymanska used a rodent model to simulate adolescent binge drinking. The experimental rats were treated with volumes of alcohol with the same duration and frequency that would qualify as binge-drinking in adolescents. Control rats were treated with the same duration and frequency but with saline treatments instead. These treatments were given during puberty and then the rats were given a separate treatment of alcohol or saline during adulthood. In order to measure the effects of the alcohol consumption on the HPA axis, levels of hormones such as corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), arginine vasopressin (AVP), and corticosterone (CORT) were measured before and after treatment. They essentially found that binge-pattern alcohol consumption during adolescence resulted in dysregulation of the HPA axis which can have significant implications on the adult stress response. Disruption of the stress response can result in mood disorders amongst other conditions in adolescents that can easily be avoided if adolescents are hindered from such extreme levels of alcohol consumption.

            Another condition that is of great concern for adolescents is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Unlike alcohol consumption in adolescents, numerous studies have been conducted to find an association between various adolescent behaviors such as playing video games and ADHD diagnosis. Stimulant medications such as Adderall and Ritalin are often prescribed to treat adolescents with this condition. Despite these readily available treatment options, parents are often hesitant about these prescriptions because they do not want their children to develop a dependency on pharmaceuticals at such a young age. Interestingly, one article published earlier this year in The New York Times mentioned a study that was done to see if there was a relationship between this type of stimulant drug use to treat ADHD and later drug and alcohol abuse. According to the article, parents’ fears about their children taking these prescription medications were often eased by physicians and pharmaceutical companies citing previous studies that claimed that stimulant medications such as Adderall and Ritalin reduce the risk of these adolescents engaging in other substance abuse later in life. However, the study cited by The New York Times article disproved this finding and actually found that there is no relationship between stimulant medication use in adolescents and subsequent substance abuse. Thus, these prescription medications do not increase or decrease adolescent susceptibility to binge-drinking behavior yet more and more adolescents continue to be diagnosed—and often misdiagnosed—with ADHD and prescribed these medications as though they were both treating ADHD and preventing possible alcoholism in the future. If anything, it seems to me that these prescriptions are being used as an unconventional marketing strategy for the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse in young people. Perhaps a more effective and less dangerous prevention strategy would be to continue encouraging the work of researchers such as Dr. Szymanska in their pursuit of knowledge regarding the long-term neurobiological and developmental consequences of alcohol consumption in the younger members of society. Further knowledge of this sort can lead to further education of these adolescents so they can have a stronger understanding of how their decisions to drink might have lasting effects on their growth and development. This will then hopefully encourage them to make better, well-informed decisions regarding their health and reduce such harmful behaviors in our youth to allow for a brighter future.      

Works Cited:

Przybycien-Szymanska, Magdalena, Natasha Mott, Caitlin Paul, Roberta Gillespie, and Toni Pak. "Binge-Pattern Alcohol Exposure during Puberty Induces Long-Term Changes in HPA Axis Reactivity." Plos One. 6.4 (2011): 1-7. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.

Schwarz, Alan. "No Link Seen Between Child Stimulant Use and Later Drug Abuse." New York Times 29 05 2013, n. pag. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/health/no-impact-found-for-stimulants-on-later-drug-abuse.html?_r=0>.

"Youth Online: High School YRBS." . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 13 Dec 2013. <http: / / apps.nccd.cdc.gov / youthonline / App / Results.aspx?TT=&OUT=&SID=HS&QID=H43&LID=&YID=&LID2=&YID2=&COL=&ROW1=&ROW2=&HT=&LCT=&FS=&FR=&FG=&FSL=&FRL=&FGL=&PV=&TST=&C1=&C2=&QP=G&DP=&VA=CI&CS=Y&SYID=&EYID=&SC=&SO=>.