Social Factors In Teen Drinking

Sociology is the study of development, structure, and functioning of human society, which is focusing on an entire group, not just an individual. There are many topics under sociology, but I am choosing to discuss one of the many topics, social factors. Social factors are things, people, places, or events that influence a person’s behavior. A social factor can be things such as employment, education, marital status, and religion.

 Like sociology, there are also two categories under social factor, social location and social institution. Social location is a group in which many individuals can be involved in. For example, some social locations that I would be involved in are being a student, a daughter, an aunt, being employed and so on. A social institution is anything that would be involved within an entire community. These are things that make a community all come together in order for the community to function as a whole. A social institution could be things such as a grocery store, law enforcement, a bank, schools, and a church and so on.

My reasoning for choosing social factors in teen drinking as my topic was because of how common teen drinking is. In the article “Teenage Drinking and The Onset of Alcohol Dependence” the researchers did a study of a community sample of just around two thousand individuals from ages 14-21 years old. They found that “Approximately 90% of participants consumed alcohol by age 20.” (Bonomo) Because teen drinking is such a common occurrence, there are many graphs to show different results such as this one:

Photo courtesy of: Teen Drug and Alcohol Use Headed in Wrong Direction

There are many reasons in which teens decide to start drinking underage. I came up with three reasons that I believe would impact teens on their decision to drink. These reasons were peer pressure, things individuals see in movies/TV/public etc, and family history.  I believe that whether teens have parents that allow them to drink at their house will increase the rate of that individuals drinking because the parent is basically telling them that it is fine to drink. Thomas C. Harford, Danielle L. Spiegler state in the journal Developmental Trends of Adolescent Drinking “The majority of adolescents drink both at home and in peer settings”. Peer pressure can also effect teen drinking depending on who these individuals are involved with. Sadly, a lot of individuals get pressured into doing things they do not want to do. Teens typically watch a lot of reality TV and movies that are not appropriate for their age. Seeing these things can definitely influence these individuals to do the smoking, and drinking they see in films and television shows.

Another thing that I believe could impact a teen’s curiosity of drinking would be the roles that they have. Each society or groups have certain expectations of what you should and shouldn’t do in that society. Some groups may have a role strain which is an overload of roles that an individual is taking on at one time. Norms could also be a factor because they are everyday rules that can be broken, but some individuals may judge you for what you have done.

Why do you think teens decide to drink? When did you take your first drink and why did you decided to take it?

Resources:

                     

Bonomo, Yvonne A., Glenn Bowers, Carolyn Coffey, and John B. Carlin. Teenage drinking and the onset of alcohol dependence: a cohort study over seven years. N.p.: n.p., 2004. N. pag. Web.

Harford, Thomas C., and Danielle L. Spiegler. Developmental Trends of Adolescent Drinking. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. Harford, Thomas C., and Danielle L. Spiegler. Developmental Trends of Adolescent Drinking. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.