Teenage Drinking Research Paper

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Teen drinking has become an accepted norm in American society. Because adolescent alcohol consumption, and many times abuse, is so prevalent, many tend to forget the potential dangers that arise from this type of behavior. In 2007, Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu published a call to action in an effort to deter teens from drinking and adults from facilitating the act of teen drinking. The fact is that underage alcohol consumption is an epidemic; “By age 18, more than 70% of teens have had at least one drink” (Moritsugu, 2007, p. 4). Furthermore, the rate of alcoholism for those who began imbibing before age 15 is four times higher than those who abstained from alcohol until the legal age of 21 (p. 4). Aside from potential future issues,…show more content…
Additionally, the consumption of alcohol by minors leads to higher rates of dangerous sexual behaviors, encounters with law enforcement, poor judgment, and can damage the growing brain of the average teenager (p.5). It is clear that young people need guidance when it comes to this particular subject. The purpose of this campaign is to encourage parents to take proactive steps to combat the likelihood of their children engaging in underage drinking. It is important the communication professionals have a well-rounded understanding of why their audience plays a key role in the behaviors of others, the attitudes and behaviors displayed by these parents that must be altered in order to achieve success, and appropriate settings through which to relay their message. Encouraging early parental intervention could mean the difference between life and death for a teenager struggling with the decision to…show more content…
Parents must be exposed to campaign content is a way that garners their attention, engages them, and encourages commitment to the behavior change. For example, most American adults spend a large portion of their day on the web. Integrating a webpage into the campaign would facilitate ease of access for targeted users. Researchers Jander, Crutzen, Mercken, and DeVries, (2015) explored the potential difficulties and successes of we-based interventions to discourage alcohol use in teens. They found that this type of setting is utilized to its full potential when the page is both informative and interactive. The authors note, “Applying these reccomendations in Web-based intervation could mean creating a Web site for parents where they can obtain information about the importance of setting rules and communicating with their adolescent about alcohol and how to do this” (Jander, Crutzen, Mercken, & DeVries, 2015, p. 6). They go on to suggest the use of computer-tailoring strategies to provide interaction and feedback to site questionnaires and surveys (p.6). Furthermore, authors Gass and Seiter (2011) comment on the an individual’s commitment to a cause and assert, “The more public the nature of the commitment, the more psychologically entrenched people become,” they later remark, “Whenever we make public statements or engage in public actions, we tend to become bound by our words or deeds. Yes, we can renege on
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