Binge drinking and Substance abuse among Early Adults in the Lifespan Development Psychology

Question:
Binge drinking and substance abuse is highest among the early adult age range. Discuss why this occurs and the negative impact substance abuse has on the physical, emotional and cognitive development.

Answer :
Early adulthood is the period in which individuals explore the environment and develop identity. Even though this process starts with adolescence, but it intensifies during early adulthood because of need to be independence not only psychologically but financially. This is a transition from a protected environment to a totally impersonal, unfamiliar, and highly competitive society. As they feel the stress to grow up quick, they also see a side of the world that they are not aware of when they are younger, probably due to their cognitive ability limitation in understanding the reality in a more reflective and relativistic term as suggested by Piaget. Binge drinking and substance abuse are viewed as a way out during this stressful and confusing period.


Social pressure also plays an important role as to why binge drinking and substance abuse is highest among early adulthood. As they are still figuring out who they are, they do not know where they stand on these issues, it is very easy for them to succumb to social pressure when they are trying to fit in. Crazy spring breaks, wet T-shirt contests, etc. are over-hyped, the media has nonetheless helped to promote the craze. Binge drinking and substance abuse are major features of these college social activities.



Binge drinking and substance abuse compromise individual’s judgment, thus early adults are more prone to unprotected, casual sex, which may lead to the contraction of STIs, emotional distress (especially for those who regret afterwards), and difficult to concentrate in class, which affect academic performance.

Further thoughts:
There is a debate on the appropriate legal age to drink. Here in the US, one can legally drink at 21 years old. You can begin to drive at 16 years, are considered a legal adult at age 18, and are drafted into the military at age 18, all of which come great responsibilities. Do you think age 21 to drink is appropriate considering the other age limits or do you think it should be set earlier or later? What is the legal age to drink in Hong Kong?


Answer 2:
I think there maybe some loopholes in HK laws. There is no legal age to drink in HK, but there is legal age to BUY the alcoholic drink is 18. As far as i'm aware of, there's actually no official drinking age. Or maybe legal drinking age means legal buying age. If that is so, seems like only Taiwan is prohibiting people to DRINK under age of 18.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age ,different countries have set the drinking age differently with different definitions of "Drinking Age".

Further thoughts:
Now that the drinking age has been clarified...Do you think it should be changed in Hong Kong or USA? In early adulthood, are we ready for the responsibility that one must take with alcohol? What are the cognitive issues of substance abuse?


Answer 3: It seems that 21 is rather late to be legally able to drink, especially since many of the Universities, at least in Canada and my guess the US too, have drinking as the focus of their frosh week. These are 18 year olds, so what is being promoted/encouraged by the student body is drinking which is illegal. Isn't it an ethical issue? The inconsistency never sat well with me. Promoters of beer companies, promoting something that is illegal. It really makes a mockery out of the law.

Statistic shows that one out of nine individuals who drinks continues to a path of alcoholism. It is extremely disturbing. Essentially if youth develop poor patterns of drinking, these habits can carry on into adulthood. Essentially it would seem they are not mature to handle drinking, because they are not mature to handle their emotional well being, they don't really know themselves yet.

Answer 4:
It is quite a debate that I do not have an answer to. So far, we understand that there are estimations as to what abilities and what tasks would be accomplished by certain biological age, but it also emphasizes individual variability. I believe this applies here too. Each individual's cognitive ability is different, and achieving certain level of cognitive ability does not necessarily proportionate to their age. An age limit, 18 or 21, is an ambiguous division. It maybe applicable in one case, but not another. I believe the most important thing is to prepare and education people as early as teenagers about alcoholism. As in the case of the use of condom, from the research in the textbook, early sex education does not bring about early sexual behaviors, instead it increases the practice of safe sex. In the case of educating abstinence in adolescents, it brings about the opposite effect as stated in the textbook, because adolescence is the age of exploration, if not rebellion. What do you think?

Answer 5:
Early adulthood is a stage of life marked by change and exploration. It is the first time to make decision all by themselves. Adults may choose to reside with peers instead of their parents. They go to college, start to work full-time, or involve in romantic relationships. Parental doctrine subsides and peer influence rises. Drinking alcohol is a way to show how they fit into the world (peer pressure, of course).


During young adulthood, the stress and frustration due to failures in college and work will further lead to unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and drinking. They hang out in the evening more frequently and consume more alcoholic with friends than that with family.


It is quite difficult to set the legal minimum drinking age. Some countries like Italy and Belgium lower the age limit to 16. In my opinion, as long as the adults take responsibility for the consequences of his action, they can drink legally. However, do they really know it? I doubt it! The death toll due to drinking soars in HK and other countries. Thus, apart from legislation and law enforcement, I support massive education efforts about the perils of driving after drinking.


The cognitive impairments in chronic substance abusers include the damage to attention, information processing speed, memory and problem solving.


There are also three dysfunctional beliefs to make abusers engage in substance abuse.

1) Anticipatory – They feel like superman after taking it.

2) Relief-oriented – Drugs relieve any uncomfortable emotion

3) Facilitative or permissive – No risk to substance abuse. They can overcome the negative effect.

People are different and there are young 18 year olds, and old (mature) 18 year olds. So true. This makes setting an age for drinking a challenge. It is tricky.

I think it is when you start comparing drinking age to other 'adult' privileges. For example, when can you register for a gun in the USA? (I don't know but is it at a drinking age, or a driving age)

I think education for drinking is important. Teens need to be informed at some level of consequences and implications. The book talk about environment being a huge factor in drinking, but perhaps reasons why people drink, not just experimental and rebellion, perhaps some personal issues.

I grew up near a small town and binge drinking took many kids lives. They either were killed in car accidents or some actually got alcohol poisoning and went into a coma. This wasn't that uncommon.


Challening Questions:
So should the laws be changed to fit the culture or should it be upheld instead? Should illegal substances be legalized since the law is consistently broken (which it is here in the US)? There is no right or wrong answer, but there are issues on both sides of the coin. This gets a bit off topic, but changing a law due to it being consistently broken or mocked at could have serious consequences towards other laws and the respect towards the legal system as a whole for social order.

So if the law is changed to 18 in Canada and the US, how do you think that will impact young adult drinking? Is there an epidemic in HK for alcohol abuse between 18 and 21 year olds? Are parents doing justice to their children if this is the case? By the age of 18, parenting is over for most. If they have not learned to make decisions for themselves by that age, they will have difficulty being out in the world without a much needed skill. So how can parents help their children in the delicate balance of cognitive decision making and making mistakes while they are growing up? It is just as important, if not more, than any other cognitive skill learned during childhood and adolescence.

Answer 6:
It is vital that parents provide a 'safe' place for 'children' to make decisions, to fail and to succeed. It is also imperative that they reap the consequences of their decisions, good ones and bad ones. There is a need for the 'child' to feel empowered in their decision making efforts. Providing an environment for healthy development of self esteem, identity, and autonomy is important. Also, the ability to develop good conflict resolution skills and problem solving skills are important.

It is very vital to let children and adolescence bear the consequence for their own actions but as we have discussed so far, in the safe environment. It is a difficult challenge for parents to strike the balance point. Again, which parenting style I will adopt.

When I reached 18, I went and my friends of same age to celebrate in bar and drank a lot. My mum didn't know it! :Ｐ

I did many things at 18 that my mother didn't know (and that I would never admit to!) But I agree that children and adolescents need to have room to make mistakes, as a young adult, those lessons should have been learned before they embark into the world on their own. The above discussions hit a key word..."empowerment". Children who make mistakes are disciplined by their parents. Young adults who make mistakes are disciplined by the legal system. Big difference!