Alcoholism has been a very important malady of the modern society and has attracted much attention from sociologists, academicians and medical practitioners since many years. Much progress has been made in either containing or mitigating the adverse effects of alcoholism in adults as well as adolescents in the past few years. However, as much as there have been successes in containing the problem of alcoholism in the society, newer problems also have been creeping up that throw new challenges to social workers. One of the more recent fallout of alcoholism in adults and youngsters is pre-teen alcoholism, which needs to be considered with extreme caution because the deleterious effects of alcohol on children in their pre-teen years is much more than the effects that are seen in adults or the youth.

Analysis

Michael Windle observes that 'the concept of alcoholism, in its most general sense, refers to a disease, or disorder, typically characterized by: (a) a prolonged period of frequent, heavy alcohol use; (b) a variety of social and/or legal problems associated with alcohol use (e.g., driving while intoxicated, impaired school/work performance); and (c) the expression of dependency symptoms (e.g., unpleasant withdrawal effects when unable to consume alcohol).' [Windle, 1998, p. 1]. In children these symptoms may manifest much easily than in adults because of their tender physical constituency.

Deviance in relation to alcoholism is characterized by the adverse social consequences associated with drinking alcohol and includes problems in the home, at school or college, with peers, or with legal authorities. Problems in the home include such behaviors as fighting with parents about drinking and keeping away from home. Problems at school or college include attending to school in drunken state, or missing school because of drinking. Problems with peers include such actions including street-fights, conflicts with girlfriend or boyfriend about changing one's drinking habit. And problems with legal authorities include events including getting into trouble with the police for fighting or for driving while drinking. Obviously, higher levels of alcohol consumption are associated with higher levels of alcohol induced problems.

Prevalence of teen alcoholics

Alcoholism is perhaps the most common deviance found among Americans today. In 1995, in the United States, 67% of all the population over the age of 12 reported drinking alcohol in the previous year. It is more often the first socially deviant behavior that an adolescent adopts as a psychological and social reaction. Though alcohol is considered a popular “social beverage” that gives the drinker a pleasurable and relaxing feeling, the social and or legal problems associated with alcoholism suggest that alcoholism involves or causes many deviant behaviors. Many alcohol-related problems, mainly personal and social difficulties, associated with the use of alcohol makes alcoholism a social deviance. When these effects manifest at a very young age in people, it becomes very difficult to get rid of them.

The number of pre-teens and adolescents getting involved with drugs and alcoholism are slowly increasing over the past few years even though it has been accepted that the numbers have stabilized. The increasing number of teen alcoholics reflects in the increasing number and nature of crimes committed by them. Statistics show that the numbers of pre-teen and adolescent alcoholics are steadily increasing. In a study conducted between 1992 and 2002, it was observed that the number of young alcoholics in their pre-teen years are increasing steadily [SAMSHA News Release, 2004] More disturbing is the fact that forty eight percent of adolescent treatment admissions were made up of people using alcohol or marijuana, or both. Similarly, independent research has shown that almost 80 percent of adolescents could have used alcohol by the time they are 12th-graders.

Even more disturbing is the fact that 12 percent of 8th-graders could have consumed five or more drinks on a single occasion during the past two weeks or less. Although theses statistics indicate that the number of underage drinkers have been falling since the 1970s, it indicates that the trend might be catching up and that we could have more under aged drinkers in the near future.

The decrease in the number of under age drinkers were probably because the government promulgated laws that banned under age drinking. Similarly the government has taken many steps to contain alcoholism in adolescents. However, there have been a lot of changes in our social environment that encourages even under aged people to take to alcohol. The liberal society is a big factor that encourages under-age drinking [NIAAA News Release, 2004]

Parental influences

There are many factors that directly and indirectly affect the emotional growth of children. Alcoholism also plays a role in modifying the behavioral tendencies in children.

Direct Factors:
· Poor monitoring by alcoholic parents
· Low levels of 'emotional availability' of the parent
· Parental use of harsh discipline
· Tolerance to adolescent drinking
· Domestic unrest and fight within the family

Indirect Factors:
· Genetic predisposition to the use of alcohol
· Economic conditions precipitated by the use of alcohol by the parents
· Parental-child conflict

Problem drinking by parents is one of the most prominent causative factors of adolescent alcoholism. Children look up to their parents for support and direction during adolescence, which are actually the formative years of their life. It goes without saying that once the formative age is marred by unhealthy incidents, the character of children can indeed be harmed. It has been experimentally proved that poor monitoring by parents can lead children into bad company and undesirable habits.

Alcoholic parents do not have the inclination or interest to keep track of the activity of their children [Mona, 2001]. The statistics that describe the number of children that have been exposed to alcohol points to a very dangerous trend, which would put the blame on the irresponsible behavior of parents who seem to be either unconcerned or ignorant about the deleterious effects of alcohol on the young minds and bodies.

Seven million infants were exposed to alcohol during gestation, nearly seven million children under 18 live in families with one or more alcoholic parents and over six million children live with 3.4 million parents who used an illegal substance in the last 30 days. An estimated total of 29 million children of alcoholics includes 13-25% likely to become alcoholics [Young 2002]

This means that the number or pre-teens that are affected by the adverse effects of alcohol and drugs is not a small matter that can be ignored in our society. Researchers also believe that genetic factors that run in the family could also be an important factor that exposes children to alcohol. For example, it has been seen that some people have a genetic predisposition to alcohol and therefore children born and brought in such families will have a higher chance of being exposed to alcohol. Several other secondary factors such as familial discord, violence in the family, and lack of attention may ensure that the child becomes alcoholic in his or her early years [Acer News Release, 2004]

Scientific research continues to uncover ways in which children are affected by the drinking and social behavior of their alcoholic parents. In two recent studies published in the July issue of Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research, indicate that not only can the behavior of drinking parents bring about early childhood bouts of depression, but can effect the cognitive skills and IQ's of their children. [www.alcoholism.about.com]. Children of "antisocial alcoholics" displayed the worst IQ and academic achievement in elementary school compared with children from families in which there were no alcoholics and even with children from families with "non-antisocial" drinking fathers.

Social factors and peer pressure

Experts believe that peer influence is a very important factor that can contribute to alcoholism in pre-teens. It has been seen that teens who have sexually active friends can be more prone to alcoholism. This finding can also be extended to pre-teens who are being exposed to their own sexuality. In fact, research suggests that people who have sexually active friends are 31 times likely to have used alcohol and other drugs. Similarly people who have a boyfriend or a girlfriend also run a higher risk of being exposed to alcohol. The statistics points to the importance of peer influenced behavior that can modify the normal behavior in children [CASA News Release, 2004]. In fact, research has shown that peer pressure is a very important aspect that encourages people to use drugs and alcohol.

The pre-teen years are also very important in the sense that they are the formative years when a person accepts certain norms and practices in his or her life. Hence they need a mentor to tone their thought processes. In today’s world, either there is a lack of good mentors or the ones that are available do not fit the bill. Hence, it is easy for children to go astray and form a wrong opinion of themselves. For example many films depict macho men and beautiful women drinking alcohol. Such images can create negative stereotypes in children who believe that consuming alcohol is the reason for the success of these people in the society.

Similarly, musicians, well respected people, players etc indulge in alcohol and drugs that often give a wrong signal to the children. People may also take to alcohol as a means of rebellion against the existing social system. This mostly happens in children who have had bad parental influences in their lives and they take to alcohol and drugs in order to express their rebellion against the system.

Pre-teen alcoholism in terms of socialist theories

Pre-teen alcoholism can be explained in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy model [Norwood, 2004]. According to this model, a human being will aspire for higher philosophic needs in life as soon as he achieves the basic tangible needs. This means that a person will aspire for higher ideals when he has attained the basic necessities in life. In the case of pre-teen individuals, they usually have all the amenities at home and they seek higher experiences that they often fantasize about thanks to the media. Hence, it is their urge to experience more that encourages pre-teens to opt for alcohol.

Similarly, Maslow also believed that failure to actualize a need will result in psychological or physiological dysfunction. This is exactly what happens in many pre-teens who, due to their age, are begin to question the norms of society and so feel alienated from the seemingly restrictive attitude of the society. This is the reason why many teens opt for alcohol as a means to display rebellion and deviance from an accepted path of moral conduct.

As far as the theories of Erik Erikson is concerned, pre-teens are in the elementary and middle school years where they concentrate on developing competence, which is very important to them in their later life. Here they compete with each other to excel in things that they feel are important. Alcohol consumption may seem important to them due to the feedback they get from the people, especially adults, around them and so they believe that alcohol is an important aspect of their life. This may be a major encouragement for them to try consuming alcohol. The experiences that they gain from consuming alcohol initially may prompt them to take larger quantities at shorter intervals which ultimately make them crave for alcohol.

From the above theories it may be seen that alcoholism in children often occurs because of the bad influences of the society. Socially responsible individuals like parents and teachers may be able to prevent alcoholism in kids if they take pains to help them in the right manner. Exposing children to social issues for which they are not prepared for is a major cause of concern and must be avoided.

Pre-teen alcoholism is a very important issue that needs immediate care and attention. This is because pre-teens are in a very immature state of life and alcoholism at this stage can take away a lot from their lives, which reflects on the quality of the future society. While it may be said that social and parental influences are very important in molding the character of a child, it must be also said that the influence of peers are very important for the proper growth of a child. Hence, responsible people like parents and teachers must try and inculcate good behavior in children so that they are not lead astray by social factors. In addition, care must be taken to ensure that children who are already in the clutches of alcoholism or drugs must be given good counsel and weaned away from the dangerous effects of these social maladies.

1. Mona El-Sheikh, (2001), Parental Problem Drinking and Children's Adjustment: Family Conflict and Parental Depression as Mediators and Moderators of Risk, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Oct, 2001.

2. Nancy K. Young, (2002) Effects of Alcohol and Other Drugs on Children, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Vol. 29, No. 1

3. Acer News Release, (2004), Scientists Believe Genes Determine Response to Alcohol, Low Level of Response Linked to Heredity, retrieved from http://alcoholism.about.com/od/genetics/a/blacer041014.htm on October 16, 2004

4. SAMSHA News Release, (2004), Adolescent Treatment Admissions Increased in 2002, retrieved from http://alcoholism.about.com/od/teens/a/blsam040901.htm on October 16, 2004

5. CASA News Release, (2004) Signals of Teen Substance Abuse Risk, Parents Should Watch Teens' Friends, Dating Practices, retrieved from http://alcoholism.about.com/od/tipsforparents/a/blcasa040821.htm on October 16, 2004

6. NIAAA News Release, (2004), Youth Alcohol Consumption Remains High, Drinking Trends Stabilized Over Past Decade, retrieved from http://alcoholism.about.com/od/tipsforparents/a/blacer040914.htm on October 16, 2004

7. Michael W (1999) Alcoholism, Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence

8. Norwood, (2004), Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, retrieved from http://www.deepermind.com/20maslow.htm on October 16, 2004

9. www.alcoholism.about.com