Under age people may be drinking more now then ever
The Numbers:
In today’s society, young people are more pressured than ever to drink at an early age. In a recent study done with males and females aged 12-20, 57.3 percent of males and 47.6 percent of females had or are currently drinking. Of these, 21.1 percent of males and 16.1 percent of females have binge drank. Binge drinking is defined as the consumption of dangerously large quantities of alcoholic beverages in one session. Doctors say that 5 or more alcoholic beverages for males, and 4 or more for females, in one sitting is considered binge drinking.
Fraternities and other Greek Organizations:
Fraternities are group of men bonded together by their ritual that contains the founding principles, ideals, and aspirations of the group. Many people believe that young men join these organizations so they have a place to engage in activities such as binge drinking, taking drugs, and easy access to sex from the opposite sex. These are simply stereotypes that have been made from movies like Going Greek, Old School and Animal House.
It is true, however that most fraternities do have large parties in which illegal activities like underage drinking do happen but not to the extent that the stereotypes would have people believe. High Point University student Ryan McCarthy states that when you are in college, “It’s what you do. It’s not like you can stop people from doing it. When you think of college, you think of being able to do what you want, when you want.”
In 2001 The Harvard School of Public Health did an alcohol study on college campuses and found that members of Greek organizations tend to drink on a more consistent basi
s then people in other types of organizations. Nearly 40 percent of Greek organization members who considered themselves as low level drinking had increased their alcohol consumption, compared to just 17 percent of non Greek students. The study also finds that members who take a more active role in the organization tend to drink even more heavily than the other members.Does this mean that all Greek organizations are full of beer drinking, drug taking, sexaholics? No, many of these organizations have been taking a stand against the stereotypes. Like others, the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity has put national rules in place that helps to eliminate underage drinking. It is in the bylaws that no Lambda Chi Alpha function is allowed to have kegs, distribute alcoholic beverages and must have sober brothers at all times. If a chapter gets caught not following these laws, they will be penalized from sanctions all the way up to loss of charter and banning on their campus.
Consequences:
Most teenagers who engage in consuming alcohol tend to engage in binge drinking. The problem with binge drinking is that side effects can be deadly. These side effects include sexual dysfunction, unplanned pregnancy, sexual transmitted diseases, liver disease, and alcohol poisoning. Most binge drinking occurs when people engage in drinking games such as quarters, card games, Edward forty hands, and beer pong. Drinking games are very popular with young people, especially at college fraternity parties.
Drinking and driving is also a huge problem with under aged people. Statics show that in 2006 32 percent of all deaths on U.S. Highways were involving a drunk driver, nearly 13,500 people. High Point University student William McNamara states “I think it is a problem when people think they can do short drives when they are drunk.”
It seems that when people drink, especially under aged people, they think that they are invincible. People need to learn that when they consume an alcoholic beverage, your reaction time is affected. However with the proper education about alcohol, people of all ages can enjoy their own personal experience with drinking.
For more information on this topic please visit:
Sidebar: Fun times breaking the law
Many people love the idea of going against authority and doing this that they could get arrested for. Is it for the thrill of breaking the law? Is it because everyone else is doing it and it’s the popular thing to do? Or is it because they enjoy the feeling of getting drunk.
Whatever the reason, high school and college students frequently break the law the drink alcohol in large amounts to get drunk and party. Many of these students “blackout” from drinking too much and perform actions that they would normally not do.
Andrew Craig and Rachel Anderson are both students at High Point University, who go out drinking on a frequent basis to get drunk and have fun. Their actions have led them to partake in crazy night that without their friends, they would never remember.
Andrew had a night in which he consumed around 6 to 7 beers and nearly a handle of Southern Comfort leading him to have a lower case of alcohol poisoning and proclaiming that he is “a f__king rockstar!” Rachel had a similar night in which she drunk a large number of shots and began to flash and make out with a female friend for Mardi Gras beads.
1 comment:
Stev-o, so far this is your best story, so well done on conducting sound interviews and research.
I feel the story could have been much stronger if you had included an HPU counselor to give us another prespective on drinking.
Also, your two videos and several internal links do not work. This is why it is very important to always test your links and videos.
Post a Comment