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Alcohol consumption by youth in the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alcohol_consumption_by_youth_in_the_United_States&action=edit

Individual Motivational Factors
Understanding the individual motivational factors behind youth alcohol use is crucial to creating effective prevention and intervention programs.

Motivations on the individual level include the youth’s perceived internal and external reward system, personality traits, affect, and the attachment and attitudes of the individual’s family and peer group.

Internal Rewards

Perceived internal rewards include youths’ use of alcohol to change their state of mind by becoming buzzed or intoxicated. Youth who use alcohol for the internal rewards consistently experience a high amount of negative experiences and emotions within his/her personal life. Negative experiences and emotions result in the youth feeling a great amount of stress and pressure in their daily lives. Youth who experience a consistent high level of stress and pressure during childhood/adolescences have a greater risk of using alcohol to cope with these emotions. Youths’ ability to regulate their emotions when faced with negative experiences determines the risk of underage alcohol use.

Personality Traits and Affect

Youth who possess certain personality traits and affect are at a greater risk of using alcohol to cope with positive and negative emotions.

Certain personality traits, such as low agreeableness and neuroticism, and a negative affect predisposes a youth to use unhealthy coping methods to deal with negative emotions. When it comes to underage alcohol use, these coping methods may include binge drinking and drinking alone.

A youth with a positive affect and a predisposition to reward seeking behavior is likely to consume alcohol to experience positive emotions. If an individual has a positive affect and predisposition to extroversion, the youth is at a greater risk of being influenced by peers to drink alcohol for enjoyment. Drinking for enjoyment can have serious consequences as youths are often unfamiliar with the effects alcohol has on the body. Alcohol abuse and overdose are just two of the potential consequences.

External Rewards

The perceived external rewards of underage alcohol use are influenced by pressure and expectations from a significant social unit such as the individual’s family and peer group  A youth will use alcohol to cope with too high expectations and/or demands from these social units. If a youth perceives a social benefit from using alcohol, he/she is more likely to increase the quantity and frequency of alcohol use.

Peer Group

Youth often attach to peer groups who understand and sympathize with the anxiety of adolescence and young adulthood. Being able to fit in with their desired peer group is a perceived external reward of underage alcohol use. Peer pressure has a great amount of influence over an individual’s decision making ability.

When a youth associates with a deviant peer group, he/she is more at risk of using alcohol before turning 21 years old. Often if one member of this peer group uses alcohol, the other members will be pressured and/or influenced to experiment with the drug. To fit in with this chosen peer group, a youth will feel obligated to use alcohol as well. Results of a 2009 study found that most youths are likely to associate with peers that drink alcohol.

Family

The family is often the most influential social unit in a youth’s life. The family's ability to handle stressors attribute greatly to a youth’s motivation to drink underage. How parents and/or guardians deal with problems in their own lives will affect a youth's motivation to try alcohol.

The amount of support parents' provide youths is essential to avoiding underage drinking. Without proper parental support, youths rely more on their peers for guidance. This, in turn leaves youths more vulnerable to adopting the drinking values of their peers. Family factors that also put a youth at risk of underage alcohol use are a history of alcoholism, consistency in discipline and primarily male gendered.

The family’s attitude towards the use of alcohol affects the youth’s motivation to use the drug before turning 21. Youths are at a lower risk of developing problem drinking patterns when their family has a strong, consistent disapproval towards underage drinking. If the parents’ view of alcohol is inconsistent and/or waivers as the youth grows older, the youth is at a greater risk of wanting to try the drug. If the youth feels his/her parents’ disapproval is due to a chosen peer group, the youth is more likely to be influenced to use alcohol to rebel against parents’ attitudes.

The amount of attachment youths feel towards their family will influence their motivation to illegally use alcohol. A stronger attachment to the family makes a youth more likely to be influenced by his/her parent’s opinion about underage alcohol consumption. Youths who increase their attachment to peers and decrease their attachment to family are more motivated to consume alcohol before age 21 regardless of their parents’ approval.