Bakia

Bakia Michael
Allison Fernley
English 1010
30th March, 2016
Should States Reduce the Age for Drinking Alcohol to 18?
Kramer, Liz, and Nancy Sprague. "Alcohol Abuse & Youth: An Overview."
Points Of View: Alcohol Abuse & Youth (2016): 1. Points of View
Reference Center. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.
According to the article Alcohol Abuse & Youth: An Overview, Liz
Kramer and Prague Nancy assert that alcohol is the leading cause of death
which is associated with car crashes, murder and suicide among adolescents
in the American society. They add that high use of alcohol has lifethreatening consequences on adolescents including: - drop-off in academic
performances, deterioration of family relationships, and mental disorders
such as anxiety, and depression. They reference their article to The American
Academy of Pediatrics which reveals that alcohol is the most abused drug
among children and teenagers. They explain that prevention of alcoholism is
the best approach to teenagers and it is left up to parents to control their
children, though there is a greater role from retailers and manufacturers,
who profit from the sales of beverages. They recount a December, 2008
Associated Press story in which a student died of alcohol poisoning

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purchased by a 21-year old, and a 25-year old man who was sentenced for
purchasing alcohol for a minor who ingested a volume that he wound up
temporally on a ventilator.
One of their greatest appeals to readers is their credibility. Sprague
has written 52 books on various topics covering health and teenagers. Most
of her books cover researches carried out by various organizations. On the
other hand, Kramer has written seven books mostly on youths behaviors and
drugs. Their article is appealing to readers because it is all based on
researches from credible institutions such as The American Academy of
Pediatrics. When it comes to children and behavioral patterns in America,
they stand at the summit. Their appeal to readers is that parents need to
take more responsibility for their childrens upbringing because alcoholism
does not only affect the home but the society as a whole. What of its
damaging effect that leads to poor academic performance and the addiction
attributed to it? This will help to keep youths aware of the consequences that
go with alcoholism as it derails a childs future. They put up a serious tone
when it comes to retailers and manufacturers of alcoholic beverages as they
are bent on making profits at the expense of our youths. They want readers
to understand that the government is doing something about alcoholism in
children, but more emphasis needs to be placed on alcoholic businesses and
parents.

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Their article sheds light on what goes on when customers leave the
counter. Legally in most states in America, children of age 21 and below are
not allowed to buy or drink alcohol, but why is alcoholism still prevalent
among teenagers in the society? Why is binge drinking still common among
youths? I think Kramer and Prague addressed some of the issues in a way
that is convincing to readers. Nevertheless, more information is still needed
to know where and how do teenagers get alcohol. If we want a youth-free
alcoholic society, everyone has to take the responsibility.

Jackson, Christine1, cjackson@rti.org, et al. "Attributes That Differentiate

Children Who Sip Alcohol From Abstinent Peers." Journal Of Youth &
Adolescence 42.11 (2013): 1687-1695. Education Full Text (H.W.
Wilson). Web. 30 Mar. 2016.
In the article Attributes that Differentiate Children Who Sip Alcohol
from Abstinent Peers, Christine Jackson and Susan Ennett research show
that sipping alcohol during childhood may be an indicator of childrens
future risk of underage drinking. They concede that despite clear evidence
that early alcohol use is a public health problem very little is known about
alcohol use when it occurs among elementary school-aged children. They
carried out their research with third-grade school children to learn whether

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sipping is associated with attributes that could increase childrens likelihood

of further underage drinking. They get telephone interview data from 1,050
mothers and their third grade children (mean age 9.2 years; 48.2 % male)
residing in the Southeastern United States. The majority of mothers were
White non- Hispanic (69.02 %) or Black non-Hispanic (21.3 %); most (85 %)
lived in households shared with fathers or other adult caretakers. Their
results suggest that developmental attributes associated with risk of
underage drinking begin to differentiate at least as young as middle
childhood. Their research also shows that most of the drinking occurs in
family context with the awareness or permission of parents during family
dinner or celebrations.
Jackson is researcher at the Division of Public Health Environment,
and Ennett is a researcher at Gillings School of Public Health, university of
North Carolina. Both of them have done extensive research on the effect of
alcohol in children. Their research work was reported in the in the Journal Of
Youths & Adolescence, which is an academic journal. Their appeal to readers
who are mostly those in academics is that parents need to prevent their
children from sipping alcohol during dinning because they may not complete
their education. What is shocking in their findings is that the mean age for
children was as low as 9.2 years, and that they sip with the permission of
their parents. Also, their statistics reveal that most of the drinking occurs

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with children from rich homes which should be a point of reflection for
readers.
Their research helps to answer some of the questions that have
been thinking and possibly some readers. Some of the alcoholism in
teenagers today originated from their homes with the acknowledgement of
their parents who undermine its addictive effect. One of the major limitations
in the research is that it was concentrated on the southeastern states of
America where 1050 mothers were involved which represents less than one
percent of the U.S population. That may not be a true reflection of the
society, but it highlights was goes on in certain homes. However, I think
readers will be convinced with certain specifics and not with the general
conclusion of the research. If youths are more pruned to drinking is it
possible lower the age of purchasing and drinking of alcohol to say 18 years
of age? That is still a topic for tomorrow.

Main, Carla T. "Underage Drinking And The Drinking Age." Policy Review 155
(2009): ERIC. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.
In Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age, Carla Main argues that the
legal drinking age should not be reduced to 18 years. Main asserts that
underage drinking on campuses is alarming to administrators such that in
2008, John McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College, advocated

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for signatures from colleagues titled The Amethyst initiative, which calls
for politicians to reexamine the underage drinking laws from the minimum
age of 21 (known as the 21 laws) to 18 years. Since its launch, the
Amethyst Initiative has created a public dialog about the drinking age,
resulting in media coverage and a hearing before the New Jersey state
legislature in November 2008. Main explains that between 1970 and 1976,
29 states lower their drinking age, but there was a corresponding rise in
teenage highway accidents associated with drunk driving, and 24 states had
to reverse their legal drinking age to 21 years. Main states that by 1982,
President Reagan created a presidential commission to study drunk driving
and Congress authorized highway funds to states that passed stiffer drunk
driving laws. In 1984, Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act, which
required states to have a minimum drinking age of 21 for all types of alcohol
consumption if they wanted to receive federal highway monies. The legal
drinking age has stayed at 21 since then.
Carla Main is the author of the book The Minimum Legal Drinking Age
Should not be Lowered published in 2013. He has also written many articles
that were published in Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, etc. This
article was published by Hoover Institution Press of Stanford University, and
it is an academic journal containing 11 pages. Most of his readers will be
students and researchers. He makes readers to understand why government
policies have been changing on teenage drinking age until 1984 when

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Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act that adopted the legal
drinking age to be 21. His message is very clear to readers that if you are not
up to 21 years of age you dont qualify to drink alcohol.
Main answered some of the questions concerning underage drinking
that it is mostly connected to drunk driving, sexual harassment, violence,
and binge drinking. Despite the 21 laws, drinking is still prevalent among
teenagers and it appears there is a problem of implementation. I think most
readers will find this article very disturbing because it does not prevent
youths from taking alcohol, but only shows how they will be prosecuted in
the event of any incident associated with drinking. It is over three decades
that this law was passed by Congress, yet very little has changed on
alcoholism among youths. I think drinking of alcohol among teenagers should
be more of parental control and personal habits than of public laws that are
only there to prosecute victims.