The Negative Effects Of Underage Drinking

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In today’s society alcohol plays a big role in everyday lives. Many teens are tempted by the presence of alcohol and pressured by peers to drink. Before now the drinking age was different depending on which state you were in. The age to purchase and consume alcohol was changed to 21 in all states in the year 1988, after the different states’ laws eventually had teens crossing states’ borders to purchase alcohol. This was not the only reason for the law to be changed. Other things contributing to this, included facts about alcohol leading to increase in suicidal thoughts and other dangerous behaviors including drinking and driving. Drinking and driving does not only pose threats to teens’ live but to others as well. However, does the legal drinking age being 21 help prevent underage drinking or does it only make it more appealing? …show more content…
One study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse shows that 42 percent of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 have participated in binge drinking. (Fuller 1) Some likely effects of binge-drinking include long-term brain damage. During a study conducted by Tim McQueeny, a doctoral student in the UC Department of Psychology, found evidence in the brains of 29 people who frequently binge-drink on the weekend that there was “cortical-thinning of the pre-frontal cortex, the section of the brain related to executive functioning such as paying attention, planning and making decisions, processing emotions and controlling impulses leading to irrational behavior.” (Fuller