Adolescent drinking
holds great risks

Most everyone understands that one of these stages is pregnancy. But research is finding another stage to be especially risky: adolescence.

Question: Why is excessive drinking risky in adolescence?

Answer: Researchers are finding that during this stage of life -- the transition period between childhood and adulthood considered to span the teen years and possibly reach into the early 20s -- the brain is still undergoing a significant amount of remodeling. Adolescents are accumulating neural connections necessary for reasoning and decision-making. Relatively recent research finds that alcohol abuse at this time can adversely affect the forming of many of these critically important neural connections.

Q: How much alcohol is safe for adolescents?

A: Just as with pregnancy, no one really knows what a safe level of intake might be during adolescence. Consequently, researchers studying alcohol and brain function typically recommend no alcohol consumption during these years.

But it is clear that the greatest risk comes from frequent bouts of heavy drinking, particularly that which leads to blackouts. Consuming a large amount of alcohol in a short period can cause slight impairments in memory or even blackouts where a person remembers nothing about what they did while intoxicated. Researchers are finding that these blackouts are much more common than previously thought.

Aside from the temporary embarrassment, the greater concern is for the disruption in long-term memory formation. This can be damaging to the adult brain but worse for a still-developing adolescent brain. It is the accumulation of memories that organizes an adolescent's brain centers and provides for optimal function as an adult. If the opportunity to establish these brain connections is missed due to alcohol abuse, there is likely no going back.