Alcohol Consumption among the Youth

The primary talking point in regards to the present societal issues is youth alcoholism. Numerous young people over the world face societal issues, and alcoholism is their main cause. Due to this issue, the majority of governmental organizations have had to contend with the anxiety brought on by the alarming number of young people who are impacted by the alcoholic situation. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to investigate the various factors that influence the majority of young people to drink alcohol. Methodologically, a quantitative analysis is used to provide a thorough grasp of the issue of juvenile alcohol consumption. The paper through the introduction gives the background of the alcohol consumption among the youths giving the alcoholic behavior of the youths across the world. Also, the paper further analyses the reasons that make youths consume alcohol exaggeratedly. Through the analysis the factors that lead to consumption of alcohol, the frequency of the consumption, and the age at which the youths are prone to alcohol drinking. The correlation of the subject matter is also the point of concern of the paper. Finally, the paper addresses the discussions and recommendations on the alcohol consumption among the youths.

Index Terms: Youths, Alcohol, Alcohol consumption, Alcoholism

Introduction

Over the recent past, social issues among the youth has been prominent. Owing to this, many governments have had to launch a fight against the upheavals caused by the youths in their day to day life (DiClemente, Hansen, and Pontoons, 2013). The social issues discussed in this paper are attributed to high levels of alcohol consumption among the youths. It is viewed that, a number of reasons and factors have contributed to increasing demand for alcohol and consequently its consumption among the youths (Brunborg, Mentzoni, and Frøyland, 2014). The impacts of consumption of alcohol are felt by the individual, the economy, and the entire society.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of male youths who consume alcohol are more than the female ones (Grossman et al., 2013). Most men frequently consume alcohol as compared to the female counterparts. Over the past decades, alcohol consumption has gone high in terms of quantity and frequency, with the intoxicant being the major global social and medical nuisance. In addition to that, the age bracket in which youths begin to consume alcohol has drastically decreased. In this regard, youths today take alcohol at a tender age compared to three to four decades ago (Mark, Hansen, and Rees, 2013).

Since 1990, a number of leading disability globally associated with alcohol have been on the rise exponentially (Owens and Adolescent Sleep Working Group, 2014). The disabilities include schizophrenia, manic-depression, unipolar major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and alcohol abuse. These has posed a great threat to the growth of youths academically, socially, economically, and morally (Kissin and Begleiter, H., 2013). The future of major countries is at stake due to alcoholism among the youths, given that the hope of the future generations and development lies in the hands of our youths. According to Owens and Adolescent Sleep Working Group (2014), majority of the youths find themselves joining alcoholism due to peer pressure or forces of personal pleasure and enjoyment.

In countries like Malaysia and most African countries, alcohol is readily available in shops, supermarkets, clubs, and social gatherings (Tutenges and Sandberg, 2013). In fact in such countries, the government collects a lot of tax from selling of alcoholic beverages. The impact of this is that, majority of youths have access to alcohol at a tender age (Xuan et al., 2013). According to the World Health Survey, done in European Region and the America, it was found that majority of youths (Aged 18-25 years) engaged in heavy drinking as compared to the entire adults population. For instance in Brazil, Dominica Republic, Spain, and Czech Republic. Mutalip et al. (2014) suggested that, 45% of youths in Malaysia consume alcoholic drinks on a daily basis without fear of anything.

Literature Review

Alcohol is a collection of a number of drinks that are also termed ethanol or ethyl alcohol (Kponee et al., 2014). Beer, spirits, and wine are components of alcohol which sparks and individual to have a strong crave for it despite its harmful effects to an individual. Alcoholism causes a number of disease that affect an individual (Zapolski et al., 2014). The destruction caused is in the liver and also causes depression. In regard to this, high alcohol levels may cause damage to the brain, heart, liver, and the foetus for pregnant women. Most of the people who drink have a number of reasons to justify their drinking habits. Alcoholism starts in small amounts till a person becomes addicted and becomes a chronic drunkard (Cooke, Dahdah, Norman, and French, 2016). In most causes alcoholism is considered as a disorder because the victims get mentally distorted when they drink and they have mood and social change.

As people get addicted to drinking more alcohol their body systems get used to the high levels of alcohol till a person develops physical dependence on the alcohol. At this point, the destruction caused by alcohol is severe. There are many effects of alcohol consumption on the youths (Windle, Shope, and Bukstein, 2006). The effect on the health of the youth is an irreversible action especially if the body organs are destroyed. Also, other youths have fallen victims of breaking law and increased violence due to alcohol consumption. A number of them have been admitted in public hospitals seriously injured because of driving while drug and other diseases related to alcohol consumption. It is noted that, more than 5000 youths who are underage die due to alcohol consumption each year.

Problem Statement

Considering the dangerous effects of alcohol especially in destroying the brain of the adolescent, people who consume alcohol at an age of less than 15 years are most likely to experience severe problems related to alcohol consume in their future lives. Most states, do not allow drinking of alcohol at the age of below 21 years. However in America, youths in the age bracket of 12-20 years drink almost 25% of alcohol. This is illegal in most countries across the globe (Cunningham et al., 2014).

According to the WHO, each year 5000 people die due to consumption of alcohol underage (Kann et al., 2013, 2014). There are a number of reasons that resulted in the youths consuming alcohol underage. For instance for youths who are students, underage drinking leads to poor academic performance and chronic absenteeism from school. In the United State, the reports indicate that, each youth who engages in alcohol consumption makes the state lose $2,207 in expenses and costs such as medical care, pain and work loss associated with underage drinking among youths (Ewing, Sakhardande, and Blakemore, 2014).

Alcohol consumption among the youths leads to a number of development and health risks. This include damage to the body organs and the brain. Also, the future lifer of such youths is affected s they lose a sense of direction and engage in criminal activities that affect the general society.

Significance of the Study

Since heavy drinking of alcohol leads to social problems which include increase in crime rate, sexual crimes, and mental problems, it is therefore worth noting that curbing such problems will be a milestone in helping the youths. Therefore, educating the youths and the entire public on the dangers of alcoholism will help reduce the social problems in the society.

In most cases the youths and the public are not educated on the dangers of alcoholism, bringing such information to them will aid in averting such all the problems associated with alcoholism or make them avoid alcohol completely (Huang et al., 2014).

Research Question

Previous studies have indicated a link between youth consumption of alcohol with the effect on the growth of the youths in the society. However, less has been said about the long term negative effects of alcohol to the youths who have been exposed to alcoholism for a long time since their tender age (Marshall, 2014). Research has shown that, many youths have lost direction and fallen into the trap of alcoholism, to find a lasting solution to the continued effects on youths, it is crucial to understand and ask questions regarding the actual effects of use of alcohol among youths. It is necessary to specify the physical and emotional aspects of alcohol as well as determine the direct or indirect impact of underage drinking on the subsequent acts that youth’s portray in the society over the recent years.

The present study will answer the question: Does alcohol consumption have negative effects on youths? More specifically, the research will delve into the negative impacts on the emotional, physical, mental, psychological, health, and behavioral stability of the youth.

Research Design, Methodology, and Methods

The research design consists of a defined plan that will help the researcher answer the problems and questions explored in the research. The design helps in structuring the research so that the core functions of the research project (for instance, the groups, measures or treatment plan, and the methods of the assignment) work in determining and addressing the key research question (Miller et al., 2015). In regard to this, the research design required finding information from the youths from a number of countries in the world, for this case let us consider the youths in Alor Setar in Malaysia, therefore the use of questionnaires is aimed at getting standardized data. In this research individuals will be used as the unit of analysis. The questionnaires are given to the people who are consume alcohol in Alor Setar. The opinion of the people on why the youths are involved in alcoholism is determined and analyzed.

The present study targets at finding the negative effects of alcohol consumption on the youths. The answers will give a way of curbing the increasing cases of alcohol consumption. In this regard, an open-ended and part of a closed questionnaire will be made containing questions directed to the youths, members of the general public, and medical personnel who have experienced or encountered people in cases of alcoholism in the society. The questions will focus on the seen alcoholic behavior and drinking patterns of the youths and adults of different age brackets. The questionnaire will have the general information of the need for the research indicating the respondents the objective of the investigation. Confidentiality forms will be part of the attachment in the questionnaires to help assure the participants of anonymity and confidentiality.

The first question will address the economic status of the families including the financial status of the youths and how easy they access the alcoholic drinks. This is relevant as many of the youths use the finances to purchase the alcohol. Research has also indicated that intimate partner violence is based mostly on the economic status of individuals. Another question will address the number of times a week the youths and adults drink alcohol and the age at which they begun abusing alcohol. Lastly, the observable effects of changes in the behavior of youths after getting exposed to alcohol for long will be asked. This will establish the consequences of alcohol consumption on the youths. The question will include changes in school performance, social connections, obedience, participation in family activities, deterioration in health, increased crime, and peer relations. This will allow an understanding of the perception of youths towards the alcohol consumption acts that have been increasing globally and its impacts.

Also, secondary sources including past literature will be used to understand the available knowledge on the topic. Systematization will be used although not to a large scale as the include studies will be this related to effects of alcoholism on the youths. The analysis will first use Google scholar and PubMed to acquire a list of relevant articles related to alcohol consumption among the youths. An inclusion criterion will also be established to ensure that the best literature papers are acquired. A map showing the exclusion criteria for the articles will be outlined showing the keywords that were used in the search. The articles to be used will be empirical and primary studies that outline the impacts that have been reported on alcohol consumption among the youths.

Analysis of Data

The researchers get the primary data of this research from the questionnaires got from the respondents. The questionnaires that have been responded to by the participants consisted of five sections. Section 1 consisted the respondent’s demographic profiles, Section 2 consisted of interpersonal and alcoholism, Section 3 consisted of the accessibility of alcoholic products, Section 4 consisted of ignorance that led to alcoholism among the youths, and section 5 consisted of the subject of alcoholism.

Considering the parts 1 to 5, the respondents were to indicate a to b where,

(a= strongly disagree, b= Disagree, c= Neutral, d= Agree, e= strongly Agree).

The research question and the hypothesis demanded the use of parametric method. Also, the demographic variables and independent vs dependent variables required descriptive statistics and correlation analysis methods respectively. In addition to that, analysis of data from the questionnaires will be conducted through the classification of different factors and interventions in a systematic form. The results of the survey will be analyzed and inputted electronically. Demographic data will be analyzed using SPSS for all the participants to get a variable that affects the study. The youths will be examined under the same condition and the demographic factors that influence the study will be then be used to indicate the final results. Additionally, analysis of the quantitative data will be carried out using both SPSS and chi-square to get the correlation between demographic date of both youths and adults with the occurrence of alcohol consumption. Relationships between the health problems of different youths and drop from school will also be conducted to enhance the results of the study (Singh et al., 2013). Analysis of the increased crime rate of the youths who take alcohol and those not affected will be essential to the results of the survey. All the collected data will be computed using specific statistics and percentages, and average scores will be organized and analyzed.

Recruitment and Sampling

Participants

The sample group for the study will be obtained from Alor Setar in Malaysia where reports of alcoholic consumption registered. This will be convenient as the affected towns can be sampled to help with the survey. The emails are going to be acquired and sent to the participants for their review. For the present study, 150 participants will be used with histories of reported alcoholism cases and at least youths and adults of age between 12 and 25 and above 25 years respectively. The families will provide a good basis for the study since what is required is the impact of alcohol consumption on the children. As such, participants without children will be automatically eliminated from the sampling population. Of the respondents, 65% will be females and 35% male with some basic education that will allow them to understand and answer the questions. The process of recruiting respondents is visiting social settings such as colleges and universities in Alor Setar.

However since the most of the youths or respondents may not want to be identified, this method may not give the exact clarity of the levels of alcoholism that is affecting the youths. In this regard, other methods are employed other than the primary method to expands on the analysis of the effect of alcohol consumption on the youths. Other methods employed include secondary research on publications by the government agencies, WHO, and past literature are used in the research. The reasons for using all these sources of information is to ensure all information about the alcoholism and the youths is compiled in the research. In most cases the respondents may not give or may fear giving information that is required to aid in getting correct information in the ground.

Measurement

The results of the questionnaires will be analyzed to determine the category that they will be placed in. the answers given will be presented in tables that will contain weighted scores for each of them to help in the analysis. It is necessary to verify the hypothesis about the reasonability of affecting the causes and the impact of alcohol consumption on the youths simultaneously. The analysis of different types of data in the context of the patterns of abuse under the existence or absence of different various supporting factors should be provided utilizing the qualitative methods. The yes and no answers will be calculated using percentiles. Additionally, a Likert scale to measure the strength of the responses provided will be used to assess the information obtained from the respondents.

Ethical Considerations

The challenges of alcohol consumption among the youths is profound and this has affected the consciousness of a myriad youths (Igra and Irwin, 1996). This has led to a number of ethical issues posed to the countries that have registered high numbers of youths who are fond of alcohol consumption (Siegel et al., 2013). There has an increase in sexual assaults, theft and terrorism, and all sorts of crime due to high levels of alcohol consumption among the youths. Also, for those youths who are still in school, their academic life has been affected severely. In this regard, most youths absent themselves from school and do not do assignments and examination because of lack of enough content to answer the questions. This has made many to be expelled from school due to not following the school rules and regulations. .

To solve this challenges, the government has to review all the policies pertaining any alcoholic drinks so that heavy taxes are imposed on the alcohol (Aklin et al., 2005). This will help curb the high consumption of alcohol (Talley et al., 2014). In addition to that, tight rules should be made clear on the consumption of alcohol by the youths. The age bracket for which an individual starts drinking should be raised to ensure the youths are not exposed to alcohol consumption at underage. Also, those youths caught drinking alcohol should be handled by the tight laws so that, alcohol consumption by the youths should be considered illegal (Patton et al., 2014). In addition to that, the government should enforce laws on having alcohol licenses and regular checks on villages and towns to ensure no youth is found in a drinking point or bars.

Conclusion

There are a number of factors that led to the increased alcohol consumption among the youths in Alor Setar and globally. These are identified in the study, and consists of the availability and accessibility of alcohol, ignorance on the impact of alcohol consumption, and interpersonal problems. From the findings, the major reason why the youths engage in alcohol is the availability of alcoholic drinks as the respondents claimed in the inquiry. Other key factors like ignorance and peer pressure affected the youths and made them drawn in alcohol. The results and the information of the study are key in helping the youth in Alor Setar and across the world get out of alcohol consumption and make progress in the society.

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Appendix

Sample of the Questionnaire

Section 1: Respondents Demographic Profile

How s your perspective about alcohol consumption? Is it popular with young demographic?

How do the youths find money to buy alcohol? How accessible or available is alcohol?

Section 2: Is interpersonal relationship between youths leading to alcoholism?

Section 3: is the availability of alcohol the reason for youths to subscribe to alcoholism?

Section 4: does ignorance lead to alcoholism among the youths?

Section 5: is the subject alcoholism the direct cause of alcoholism among the youths?

(Note: for sections 1 to 5 use letters a to e to answer, that is, a= strongly disagree, b= Disagree, c= Neutral, d= Agree, e= strongly Agree)