Alcohol Abuse (No.1)-Main Document

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Substance Abuse: Alcohol
Life Orientation Investigative Project
Marko Svicevic

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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. pg. 3 EXAMPLES OF RISK BEHAVIOUR............................................ pg. 3
Definition ..................................................................................................... pg. 3 Characteristics of Alcohol Abuse ................................................................ pg. 3

FACTORS THAT ENCOURAGE RISK BEHAVIOUR ................ pg. 3-4 IMPACT OF RISK BEHAVIOUR ........................................... pg. 5-6
Physical ........................................................................................................ pg. 5 Psychological and Emotional ....................................................................... pg. 5 Spiritual ........................................................................................................ pg. 5 Ethical and Social ........................................................................................ pg. 5

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... pg. 6 SOLUTIONS ....................................................................... pg. 6-7 REFERENCE .............................................................................................. pg. 7

DIAGRAMS
Number of People that do Alcohol Abuse ................................................... pg. 4 Alcohol Intake Basis ..................................................................................... pg. 4 Reasons for Drinking .................................................................................... pg. 4 Symptoms for Alcohol Abuse ....................................................................... pg. 6

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ALCOHOL ABUSE REPORT
INTRODUCTION
In this research report I have investigated the habits of teenagers towards substance abuse of alcohol. Most teenagers these days tend to drink alcohol at a very early age. Alcohol abuse leads to several serious disorders. This includes: arthritis, increased cause of cancer, fetal alcohol syndrome, heart disease, hyperglycermia, kidney disease, liver disease, malnutrition, nervous disorders and obesity. Therefore it is necessary to find solutions to the problem of alcohol abuse before it destroys young people’s lives.

EXAMPLES OF RISK BEHAVIOUR
DEFINITION
Alcohol abuse can be defined as the harmful use of alcohol. It can be seen as an addiction or dependency towards drinking alcohol which poses a threat to the user’s health as well as their personal and social relationships.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALCOHOL ABUSE
There are several characteristics of alcohol abuse, some more severe than others. 1. Failing to take responsibility of situations at home, work or school. The person is more concerned on drinking than any other aspect of their lives. The do not pay much attention to their daily routine weather it is at home, work or school as they are far too focused on alcohol. 2. People who have current relationship problems that were caused by alcohol continue to drink. Firstly the relationship problem was caused by the alcohol abuse. An “easy fix” to this would be to stop drinking; however alcohol abuse continues which worsens the relationship. 3. Alcoholics usually have some or other legal problems. They may have charges against them for assault or DUI, due to their alcohol addiction. 4. They may also have an increased tolerance to alcohol. This would mean they need to increase their alcohol consumption to feel as good as they previously did.

FACTORS THAT ENCOURAGE RISK BEHAVIOUR
A questionnaire had been set up to gather data among teenagers concerning the issue of alcohol abuse. Attached with this report are the questionnaire results as well as their interpretations. Interpretation has been done in spreadsheet with diagrams created to better illustrate the results. Firstly the questionnaire revealed some other data that corresponds with this section and the rest of this report. It showed that teenagers interviewed had abused alcohol at some point in their lives. The graph below further emphasies the results obtained.

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Graph 1: Bar graph illustrating the number of people that have committed alcohol abuse.

Furthermore it also revealed how regularly alcohol abuse took place. It showed that teenagers mostly (53% of them) drink or abuse alcohol on a monthly basis, although there are some variations.

Graph 2: Pie chart illustrating the regularity of alcohol abuse amongst teenagers. One of the main points focused by the questionnaire was to obtain data on why people abused alcohol. Several reasons were listed as options (mainly fun, peer pressure, family problems, stress problems or stress) and the results obtained were plotted on a graph below. Graph 3: Bar graph showing the main reasons for teenagers abusing alcohol.

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IMPACT OF RISK BEHAVIOUR
Physical Alcohol damages the nervous system and damages brain cells. It causes a loss of balance as well as impotence together with numbness in your feet and hands. The alcohol affects the braindecrease coordination and reaction time; this is why driving under the influence (DUI) is so dangerous. Around 40% of all car accidents are caused by DUI and around 50% of people who die on the roads have a blood alcohol concentration over the limit which is 0.05g per 100ml. Another physical impact of alcohol abuse is the inflammation of the stomach and digestive system causing ulcers to form. There are even some diseases caused by this risk behaviors; this includes infections of the kidney and urinary tract, kidney failure and pancreatitis. Excessive drinking may cause high blood pressure, damage the heart muscle and increase your chances of a heart attack or stroke. Psychological and Emotional
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Alcohol causes depression, when it gets into your blood system it decrease functioning of the brain and causes you to go into a state of depression. It causes anxiety, as you drink you become more stressed, this varies from a feeling of discontent to restlessness. It leads to obsession. Once you become dependent on alcohol you will become obsessed with drinking. You will tend to spend more time thinking about drinking and lose focus of everything around you. Alcohol abuse causes you to do into denial. You will deny that you have a problem until it’s too late as alcohol abuse is a progressive illness.

Spiritual Alcohol abuse cause several spiritual changes; they include a somewhat loss of self-respect, ambitions become lowered and usually you become hopeless in many aspects of your life. You tend to give very little thought to weather what you are doing is incorrect according to your beliefs and you spiritual well-being. Ethical and Social Alcohol can cause many problems among people concerning their ethics and social lives. It can destroy relationships, destroy people’s lives, cause dysfunctional homes/ families, causes work related injuries and leads to child abuse. The questionnaire setup also revealed some of the personal symptoms of alcohol abusers. Data was interpreted and plotted on another graph to illustrate the point. It showed that most of the symptoms were basic, simple ones of alcohol abuse, such as vomiting, nausea and passing out. However there were also a few teenagers who indicated that they have felt more serious symptoms such as depression, anxiety and discomfort.

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Graph 5: Bar graph illustrating some of the symptoms experienced due to their alcohol abuse.

CONCLUSION
This report has looked into some of the major issues concerning alcohol abuse. A questionnaire was setup to gather data from teenagers who have experienced alcohol abuse first hand. Also, several internet sites were used to gain a further understanding of the effects of alcohol abuse on people. Several key issues can be pointed out.  76% of the teenagers interviewed stated that they had abused alcohol in some point of their lives.  53% of them revealed that they abuse alcohol on a monthly basis, with only 10% abusing alcohol on a daily basis.  72% of them abused alcohol because of the “fun” they had doing it. Also 16% said they abused alcohol for “stress” reasons and not just fun.  68% of them experienced symptoms of vomiting, nausea and passing out, 28% had friendship changes, 20% experienced depression and 16% felt discomfort and anxiety due to their alcohol abuse. The effects of alcohol abuse remain very diverse as well as dangerous; such habits should be avoided as far as possible especially among young adults as it is a great harm to them physically and mentally. A final point is that people who abuse alcohol tend to change and develop several specific characteristics such as failing to take responsibility, alcohol obsession and DUI due to their bad habits.

SOLUTIONS
The first point to the solving the problem of “alcohol abuse” is prevention. If this is possible then the problem will not even occur, however this is not always an option. Therefore the second step is detection. Detecting that there is a problem will allow you to realize it and immediately get started on tackling it. After the problem has been detected then communication can happen between the teenager and parents, teachers or counselors. Monitoring the problem will be the next step to solving it, it is important to have knowledge of what is happening and the severity of it. The next step could be an intervention or seeking medical help, which will mean the person might have to attend rehabilitation centers for their alcohol abuse.

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REFERENCE
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HealthCheck Systems, 1997, http://www.healthchecksystems.com/alcohol.htm (07/09/2011). The Independent, 20 November 2005, http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-andfamilies/health-news/what-alcohol-really-does-to-your-body-516050.html (07/09/2011). MedicineNet.com, 04/27/2011, 5:27:15 pm http://www.medterms.com/script /main/art. asp?articl ekey=10925 (07/09/2011). About.com, 04 September 2008, T. Buddy http://alcoholism.about.com /cs/basics/g/alcoholabuse. htm (07/09/2011). Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., 6 September 2011 22:25, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism (07/09/2011). Alcoholism.org, http://www.alcoolism.org/alc_en/alc_dep_alc_en.html (07/08/2011) Searchwrap.spaces-What are the characteristics of Alcohol Abuse?, Samantha James, 6 March 2008, http://samanthaj.searchwarp.com/swa306591.htm (07/09/2011). About.com, 08 June 2006, http://menshealth.about.com/od/diseases/a/alcohol.htm(07/09/2011). The Psychological Effects of Alcohol, Rahul Nag, 15 May 2008, http://ezinearticles.com/?ThePsychological-Effects-Of-Alcohol&id=1179178 About Alcohol Info, http://www.about-alcohol-info.com/Effects_of_Alcohol.html eHow-health, Solutions for Teenage Drug and Alcohol Abuse by John Zaremba, 1999-2011, http://www.ehow.com/way_5269888_solutions-teenage-drug-alcohol-abuse.html (11/09/2011)



Data collected from questionnaires has been interpreted into diagrams and used in this report. All analysis of data can be viewed on the attached MS Excel spreadsheet together with the filled in questionnaires.

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