Reasons Why Teenagers Drink Alcohol

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name's John Bosworth I'm a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Saint Pete, Florida. We're looking at the reasons why teenagers drink alcohol. One of the main reasons teenagers probably drink alcohol is peer pressure, a lot of their friends will suggest they try it, you know they see their parents drinking it, they see other people drinking it, it looks cool having a beer or a glass of wine, but there's a lot of other reasons. A lot of people might start drinking or a lot of teenagers might stop drinking, or start drinking it due to the fact that their parents have strictly forbid them to, so there's little more of an oppositional defiant characteristic to actually you know, trying alcohol or maybe even other drugs. And, then there's some of the more subtle reasons, somebody might be experiencing a negative emotion, anxiety or depression and they realize either through using before or seeing their parents cope, so more of a psychosocial element to that it helps, it helps increase your confidence, you know we've heard of liquid courage, or it actually just makes you feel a little bit better, you're not quite an anxious, or you're not quite as depressed. It also might you know, help them feel like they're part of the in-crowd which again goes along with the peer pressure thing, but basically teens drink for different reasons. And, what we want to do is just be aware that if it's started and it habitual and it's starting to interfere with their lives that we get them the necessary help. My names John Bosworth and we're looking at reasons why teenagers drink alcohol."