Ghazzal Hammad - Assignment 16

“Alcohol Use in Movies Tied to Teen Drinking.” CNN, Cable News Network, 5 Mar. 2012, www.cnn.com/videos/health/2012/03/05/hm-movies-teen-drinking.cnn.

In this video, CNN anchor and entertainment editor Paul Chambers discusses the outcome of a study by journal Pediatric involving teens across the world. Pediatric is a reliable, peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In the study they conducted, they surveyed 16,500 students from ages 10-19 in various European countries. They were asked how often they had consumed five alcoholic beverages on one occasion, and they were inquired about what types of movies they watched.

The survey found that 86% of the movies had at least one scene involving drinking. Overall, 27% of the adolescents had engaged in binge drinking. This study highlights the strong correlation between alcohol use in movies and teenage binge drinking in the countries observed. 

Using this video will help provide a clear example of the effect that alcohol use in movies has on the drinking habits of teens in European countries, which could apply to the habits of teens in the United States as well. It would support my overall argument by proving that underage binge drinking is heavily influenced by scenes from movies. It also proves that one of the biggest external factors in teenage drinking stems from scenes in films.

Klass, Perri. “When Teen Drinking Becomes a Disorder.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/well/family/Teenage-drinking-alcohol-disorder.html.

In this article, M.D. Perri Klass discussed how teenage drinking can often lead directly to alcohol disorder. Klass is a certified pediatrician who is well known for her writings and research about medicine; therefore, she is a reliable source for the behavior of adolescents and children. 

In her article, she uses research and experiments to detail the many different ways that teenagers are influenced to drink as a result of societal pressures, genetics, hormones, lack of information, and their surroundings. Klass stresses the importance of educating teenagers about alcohol use, and she urges parents to confront their children about it in order to clearly communicate values and expectations. 

This article would be useful to include in my paper because it includes information about the external and internal factors that influence alcohol use and binge drinking as a teen. Many of these factors -- including media, peers, and romantic partners -- could be avoided with the right precautions, which would help reduce teenage binge drinking and the eventual alcohol abuse/disorder that follows. It highlights many of the social factors that lead to underage drinking and stresses the importance of educating teenagers in order to prevent binge drinking and the inevitable harms that result from it.

Steinmetz, Katy. “Teen Study: Kids Who Watch Boozy Films More Likely to Drink.” Time, Time, 13 Apr. 2015, time.com/3818086/teen-drinking-study/.

This article, written by TIME reporter Katy Steinmetz, analyzes the effect that alcohol use in movies has on teenagers and their drinking habits. Steinmetz mentions how a study from the journal Pediatrics -- a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Academy of Pediatrics -- found that 15-year-olds who had watched a significant amount of alcohol being consumed in films were more likely to try alcohol than their peers. 

Steinmetz then discusses a new paper written by Dr. Andrea Waylen, who has a PhD and is a senior lecturer in social sciences. Waylen’s study used data from the United Kingdom, where over 5,000 15-year-olds were surveyed on their drinking habits and asked whether or not they had seen a random selection of 50 popular films. Once other external factors had been identified and controlled, the researchers found that the kids who had been exposed to the most alcohol use in movies were 20% more likely to have tried alcohol and 70% more likely to binge drink than their peers. This also made them more likely to have alcohol-related problems, including police encounters or difficulty focusing on school/work. 

This article would be very helpful in strengthening my paper because it would show the detrimental effects of watching alcohol-related films. The study clearly shows that one of the biggest external factors in underage binge drinking comes from viewing excess alcohol use in movies. The article mentions how many similar studies from other countries have produced similar results. These shared results emphasize the impact that alcohol in movies has on the drinking habits of adolescents.

“Underage Drinking Prevention Poster Contest Names Winner.” WICZ, 23 Apr. 2018, www.wicz.com/story/38021998/underage-drinking-prevention-poster-contest-names-winner.

This website includes a drawing made by a high school sophomore named Cheyenne Stinson, who won a poster-making contest about the effect of underage drinking. In her poster, she depicts a road that forks into two. Down one side, there is a life full of happiness, success, and good health. Down the other path, there is a life full of addiction, despair, and rehabilitation. 

This poster shows the detrimental effects that underage drinking and alcohol abuse can have. Addiction, especially at a young age, ruins lives and diminishes the chance for a good future. Using this drawing in my essay would be useful because it visually represents the harmfulness of alcohol use at a young age. Although my paper is focused more on external factors that influence drinking during adolescence, understanding the impacts that premature alcohol abuse can have is vital. Knowing both the causes and effects of underage drinking helps identify and fix problems before they escalate.

Wallace, Kelly. “The More Alcohol Ads Kids See, the More Alcohol They Consume.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Sept. 2016, www.cnn.com/2016/09/07/health/kids-alcohol-ads-impact-underage-drinking/index.html.

This article, written by CNN television journalist Kelly Wallace, analyzes the effect that alcohol advertising and marketing has on teenage alcohol use. She discusses how a number of new, recent studies have shown a direct correlation between a child’s exposure to alcohol advertising and their consumption of those specific brands. 

A new study from the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes research articles on the use and misuse of drugs and alcohol) found that underage drinkers who did not watch advertisements for alcohol drank about 14 drinks per month (on average). However, teenagers who watched alcohol ads drank around 33 drinks per month. The underage drinkers who were exposed to the greatest amount of alcohol advertising consumed over 200 drinks monthly.

Wallace’s article would be very useful in my paper, because it shows one of the biggest external contributors to underage binge drinking. As mentioned in the study, teens who were exposed to alcohol-related advertising were significantly more likely to ingest large amounts of alcohol than teens who were not exposed to these ads. This shows that advertising for alcohol is one of the largest external factors in adolescent drinking. 

Extra Source: 

Jimison, Robert. “Teen Student Drinking Declines, but 1 in 6 Binge Drink, CDC Report Says.” CNN, Cable News Network, 11 May 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/health/high-school-drinking-rates-cdc/index.html.

This article discusses the amount of binge drinking done by teenagers in the United States. The source, written by  Robert Jimison, points out that one in six high school students surveyed admitted to binge drinking in the past month. The ingestion of these high amounts of alcohol are very detrimental to the health of adolescents. Jimison discusses how binge drinking can result in alcohol poisoning, injury, and even death. He also uses information from Dr. Gail Saltz, a professor of clinical psychiatry in New York. Saltz points out that many of these drinking habits typically stem from one’s home -- parent consumption of alcohol has a large influence on a child’s consumption. 

This article would be useful in my paper because it highlights the number of teens in the United States that binge drink. Jimison also points out the health repercussions that adolescents are susceptible to when they binge drink, and he emphasizes the need for parents and guardians to set a good example for their children in their homes to avoid bad drinking habits. He stresses the need for better parenting in order to save a child from harmful alcohol effects such as addiction, death, arrests, and abuse.