As graduation parties approach: Excessive and Repetitive Alcohol Consumption Has Major Consequences on the Brain Development of Young People

MONTREAL, June 6, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - As prom season approaches, Éduc'alcool is looking to raise awareness among parents by releasing a new publication on the worrying impact of excessive alcohol consumption on the brains of young people. The latest scientific data available reveals alcohol abuse can lead to a decline in gray and white matter, essential to certain executive functions, such as attention and impulse management.

"Before the age of 25, the brain is still developing. In young people who consume excessively and repetitively, we observe significant consequences, in particular related to the performance of complex tasks and the proper functioning of memory," explains Myriam Laventure, Ph.D., Ps.Ed., a full professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke.

Moreover, the skills useful for limiting alcohol consumption are not fully developed in adolescents. At the same time, excessive alcohol consumption disrupts these same regions, thus exacerbating difficulties in terms of various functions essential to the transition to adult life.

Less often, but as excessive

While between 2000 and 2019, the percentage of young Quebecers in high school who consumed alcohol in the last year fell from 71.3% to 53.2%, the situation is a lot more worrisome when it comes to excessive drinking. Indeed, although young people tend to drink less frequently than adults, they generally drink excessive amounts on every occasion. As such, it turns out that young people who drink alcohol are still at just as much risk of overconsumption.

Context and social pressure: a bad mix

During adolescence, friends play an important role in the development of identity and new behaviours. Thinking that your friends consume alcohol quintuples the probability of having drunk recently, and multiplies the risk of drinking excessively by 6.

In addition, studies show that when young people are in the habit of drinking alcohol with their friends, they are approximately 2.5 times more likely to end up intoxicated or to drink excessively at any given opportunity.

Some tips for creating a safe framework for your teenager's alcohol consumption

1. Since alcohol harms their brain development, young people should delay the age of their first consumption to as late as possible.
2. Being the first models of alcohol consumption for their teenagers, parents must take care early to drink moderately and in a responsible way in front of them.
3. Parents should explain the reasons for imposing conditions and restrictions on their children's alcohol consumption.
4. By jointly agreeing with our teenagers on the rules surrounding their alcohol consumption, they're more likely to respect them.

"Parents and those around young people have a central role to play in preventing excessive alcohol consumption," emphasizes Geneviève Desautels, Executive Director of Éduc'alcool. "There are several tips and references to regulate the alcohol consumption of teenagers; don't hesitate to open the dialogue with your teens and yes, to get involved. It can only have a positive effect on the overall long-term health of our children," she concludes.

To consult the publication, La consommation d'alcool pendant l'adolescence : l'importance du contexte et l'impact sur le cerveau, visit: https://www.educalcool.qc.ca/faits-et-effets/alcool-et-jeunesse/la-consommation-dalcool-pendant-ladolescence-limportance-du-contexte-et-limpact-sur-le-cerveau/ 

SOURCE Éduc'alcool

Camille Riverin, 418-717-2403, [email protected]