ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG TEENAGERS
Name : Muhammad Aqila Karindra Daffa
Matric : ( A19EC3010 )
Faculty : Engineering, School of Computing
Program & Case Study :
ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG TEENAGERS
CURRENT ISSUE IN MALAYSIA:
ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG TEENAGERS
PETALING JAYA, May 29 — A study by Universiti Teknologi Mara graduates last year found teens as young as 15 in Kuala Lumpur drinking alcohol.
The study on “Alcoholism among youth in Kuala Lumpur” revealed 45 percent out of 150 respondents aged 15 to 24 had consumed alcohol with 28 percent being 17-year-olds.
It also found 36 percent of those between 16 and 24 had drunk more than four units on at least one day in a week compared to 20 percent aged 65 and above.
Among young women, 37 percent of those between 16 and 24 had exceeded three units on at least one day compared with only 11 percent of those aged 65 and above.
The study stated beer and cheap spirits are known locally as Samson are Malaysians’ favorite.
Aimed at educating youth about problems related to alcohol consumption, it stated people who drink at a young age were more likely to try drugs which ultimately could place them on the path to lifelong addiction.
It said alcohol consumption can damage a child’s mental and physical health especially at a pivotal stage of life where the brain is going through major developments.
Drinking alcohol may also lead to poor performance in school or college.
The study said heavier taxes on alcohol could reduce the number of young drinkers. Other suggestions included holding educational campaigns in schools and through the media on the dangers of alcoholism.
Malaysians spend over RM2 billion on alcohol annually, making the country the 10th largest consumer in the world.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, it can be determined that the social issues among youth have become the major problem and concern of the country. The social issue discusses here is concentrating more on alcohol abuse among teenagers. Some many reasons and factors lead to alcoholism and this issue will lead to the undesirable effects and impacts on an individual, economy, and society as a whole. Underage drinking varies by geographic region since 2002 and it has been more eminent in the Northwest (31.4%) and Midwest (31.0%) than the South (26.4%) and West (26.0%).
In Malaysia, alcohol-drinking estimates of 5-year change in recorded adults aged 15 years and above per capita consumption have been classified as stable (WHO, 2011), and Malaysia was classified under low consumption with high percentages of past year abstainers. Strikingly, a recent study reported one in two current drinkers in Malaysia engaged with harmful drinking pattern like binge drinking habit that is alarming (Mutalip et al., 2013). Perhaps the most worrisome is the factors of access, price, and availability of alcohol in the market that potentially affect risky drinking pattern as the cheapest bottle of high alcoholic content like Samsu (local alcoholic beverage) costs as little as RM 1.50, equivalent to US 0.36 per bottle and easily available at local convenient stores (GAPA, 2001).
Presently in Malaysia, primary health care and hospital-based setting focus on intervention and treatment among drinkers diagnosed with alcohol abuse and dependence. In fact, harmful drinking such as irregular excessive drinking to heavy episodic drinking is widespread across the population and not merely exhibited by abusive or dependence drinkers (Woerle et al., 2007; Neumark, 2012). Initiating an early population-based approach may avert the severity of hazardous drinking in a community that might reduce the cost of hospitalization and palliative care caused by alcoholism (Room et al., 2005).
For a better feasible intervention, it is important to identify the high-risk population by examining the pattern of alcohol consumption by socio-demographic factors that could impart information on lifestyles and health outcomes due to their drinking (Oers et al., 1999). Few studies had reported socio-demography factors such as age, gender, and socio-economic status were associated to drinking problems (Oers et al., 1999; Thomkins et al., 2007; Wu et al., 2008a; Assanangkornchai et al., 2010) and their findings were useful in providing information for focused intervention at their respective communities.
Therefore, this study was carried out to obtain insight information about the patterns of alcohol consumption and risky drinking concerning socio-demography characteristics among the population in Malaysia. We would also like to examine the preference for types of alcohol beverages and adverse effects associated with drinking use among the drinkers. This information is essential to estimate the magnitude and trends of alcohol-related harms, strengthening the advocacy, formulating policy, and assess the impact of an existing intervention.
BACKGROUND
- Problem Statement
Due to the reason that alcohol may harm the adolescent brain, individuals who start drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life. In the United States, people in the age 12 – 20 drink almost 20% of alcohol consumed, although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal in all states. Each year, approximately 5 000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking. Several effects resulted from the consumption of alcohol among youth. For the underage students who drink alcohol, it can be seen that it has commonly resulted in low educational achievement and high absenteeism rates. In the United States, it has been reported that medical care, work loss, and pain, suffering directly associated with underage drinking costs $2,207 annually for each young person in that country. In Malaysia, the legal age for alcohol consumption is 21 for non-Muslims. For Muslims, there is no legal drinking age as it is against the law for them to consume these beverages. 45% of Malaysian youths admitting to consuming alcoholic drinks are underage. Most Muslims abstain from alcohol because it is forbidden by their religion as it is illegal to sell and buy alcohol for a Muslim. This has raised a problem in Malaysia. People who drink alcohol during adolescents may develop problems related to normal development. It is not necessary for people to drink because it can cause damage to their mental and physical health. During this stage of life the brain and mind are going through an important stage of development and alcohol can interfere with that. Besides, drinking alcohol may lead people to perform badly in school or college. This may harm their future opportunities in life. Furthermore, it can encourage youths to engage in vandalism or other criminal acts.
It can mean that young people become sexually active. Those individuals who drink at a young age are more likely to try other drugs. This means that such individuals could be on a path to the hell of lifelong drug addiction. Therefore, this research is conducted to study the contributing factors and the effects of alcoholism among youth.
- Significance of the Study
As known, heavy alcohol consumption will lead to further social problems such as vandalism, bully, sexual assault, and suicide. Therefore, by educating the public and youth regarding the negative impact of the alcoholism will also help in the effort of reducing the social problems that might occur when consuming alcohol. Public and youth often ignore the fact that consuming alcohol will contribute to many undesirable effects. This is due to the reason that they are not well educated about this. Educating the public and youth about the consequences of alcoholism will help in encouraging them to avoid alcohol consumption in the first place.
ALCOHOL STATISTIC IN MALAYSIA
Malaysia is said to be the 10th largest consumer of alcohol in the world. This means that on average they spend $500 million (US dollars) on alcohol each year. The per capita consumption (per unit of the population) is 7 liters – this is less than many western countries, but it is relatively high for Asia. Beer consumption in Malaysia is high and said to be similar to that of European countries. There is some debate within Malaysia as to the veracity of these statistics and that they may be an overestimation of consumption levels. Data from the World Health Organization suggests that overall 35% of males and 64% of females abstain from alcohol. Other data suggests that 35% of non-Muslims who do drink alcohol overindulge.
ALCOHOL ABUSE IN MALAYSIA
The fact that over a third of who drink alcohol in Malaysia may be overindulging is a cause of concern. The dangers associated with this type of behavior include:
* It can lead to full-blown alcoholism.
* It can lead to symptoms of depression and other mental health problems.
* There is a close association between alcohol abuse and suicide.
* Overindulgence in alcohol can also be harmful to the economy due to lost productivity because of hangovers or the need to take sick days.
* A culture of alcohol abuse can destroy communities.
* It is associated with both domestic and sexual abuse.
* It increases levels of crime.
* It means that people are unable to meet their family and social responsibilities. This type of behavior is not only bad for them but also their family and the rest of society.
* Money that should be invested in the family and the future gets wasted on alcohol.
ALCOHOL EFFECTS ON BODY
Brain:
Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination.
Heart:
Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including:
- Cardiomyopathy – Stretching and drooping of the heart muscle
- Arrhythmias – Irregular heartbeat
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
Liver:
Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including:
- Steatosis, or fatty liver
- Alcoholic hepatitis
- Fibrosis
- Cirrhosis
Pancreas:
Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion.
HOW TO STOP DRINKING ALCOHOL
In this post we are going to share with you the 8 actionable and practical steps you can start implementing today to help you to stop drinking alcohol:
- Write it down & Visualise
- Set your stop drinking goals
- Start a journal
- Clear your home of alcohol
- Plan alcohol-free days
- Keep Busy
- Tell your friends & family
- Be consistent
CONCLUSION
First of all, alcohol is the ingredient found in beer, wine, and spirits that causes drunkenness. The relationship between alcohol use and some health conditions is complex. For some health conditions, alcohol is the single cause of the condition but for many other conditions, alcohol is one cause, amongst others.
For some people especially for youth, alcohol is a regular or occasional drink enjoyed at social occasions that causes no apparent harm. However, even moderate alcohol use carries some risks. Alcohol causes mental health conditions, people with mental health conditions are more likely to use alcohol than those without. Alcohol is strongly associated with social phobias and anxiety, as it can help people with anxiety to feel they function better in social situations, but this is also associated with a risk of alcohol dependence. Alcohol problems are more common in people who are depressed and heavy alcohol use in people with depression is associated with a higher risk of suicide, self-harm, and poor outcomes. So instead of wasting time and money on something that will be dangerous for us, it will be better if we spend our money on something more important such as helping people who don’t have money with giving them some money or food. And also we have to spend our time wisely especially for youth because our journey in this life is still long so don’t waste our time on something unnecessary.