Young People Ask . . .

What’s Wrong With Getting Together and Having a Drink?

“WE ALWAYS got together to have some beers,” recalls Bent, a young man from Denmark. “In fact, we couldn’t entertain one another unless we were drunk. The situation worsened, and we changed to stronger spirits. Finally, nothing else mattered but getting drunk.”

An isolated case? By no means! Young people are drinking. But you know that. And you don’t need to hear a lot of statistics either. No doubt you’ve seen the television news shows about teenage drinking and the controversies about raising the legal drinking age in some areas.

Perhaps all of this makes you wonder: Is it wrong to drink? Is it harmful? Is it wrong for you but all right for adults? The mere mention of alcoholic beverages may raise such questions and doubts in your mind. And it’s no wonder! There’s even much confusion among adults about drinking.

For example, have you ever heard an adult say, ‘Drinking too much is bad for you!’ and then go ahead and himself have one too many? Then it’s a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’! Then, too, you may have seen TV commercials and shows or movies that portray alcoholic beverages as the key to a good time. And yet this “good time” may be legally denied to you until you reach a certain age.

Why such inconsistency? Why so much confusion? It’s simple: When used moderately, alcohol is a source of enjoyment for many; but when misused it creates serious problems. Problems like alcohol-related highway deaths, trouble with parents, teachers or the police, to name just a few. Thus the Bible says: “Wine is a ridiculer, intoxicating liquor is boisterous, and everyone going astray by it is not wise.” (Proverbs 20:1) That’s why it’s so important for you to make a responsible decision about drinking. But first, it’s helpful to know why young people drink.

Why Do Young People Drink, Anyway?

To find out why, Awake! interviewed a number of young men and women who as teenagers had drunk alcoholic beverages freely. Here’s what they said:

Awake!: Why did you drink?

Bill: For me, at first it was the group I was in. There really wasn’t a lot of pressure. It was the “in” thing to do, especially on weekends.

Paul: When I was, say, 14 or so, it was basically the same as with Bill​—to be accepted, to keep up with my peers. But later on, it was different. There were a lot of problems at home. So drinking was an escape.

Dennis: I started drinking at about the same age as Paul​—14 or so. My father was a pretty heavy drinker. There were always cocktail parties at the house. As a child I saw that drinking was the thing to do socially. Then, when I got older, I got in with a wild crowd. I used to drink to be accepted by the other kids because they were the ones that were “cool.”

Harry: My friends and I started to get curious, first about smoking. I never really liked smoking. But drinking was different. You could enjoy it. Not so much beer. We used to buy wine. It was an escape thing too. Like in Paul’s case, there was a lot of tension in our family. I wanted to get away from it.

Mark: I was involved in sports. I guess I started drinking at about the same age, about 15, with the guys on the basketball team. It was mainly, I think, curiosity. If you wanted to have fun, Friday night came along, it was the thing to do.

Joan: I don’t know if it’s different with girls. I was affected very much by what I saw on TV. I used to see the characters drinking. It looked so great. And when I was alone in the house, I sneaked into the liquor cabinet and tried to imitate them. I was just 11 or 12 years old at the time. As I look back, I think it’s incredible that TV played such a big part.

Awake!: That’s very interesting, Joan. It calls to mind some comments made in a column entitled “The Booze Tube,” by Nicholas Johnson:

“When was the last time you saw somebody drink a glass of water on television? It doesn’t happen often. No, TV drinkers are a long way from real life. The disproportion in their consumption of liquor over water, compared with the ratio in real life, is 264 to 1.”

So it’s no wonder, Joan, that you should say that TV influenced you to try alcohol.

Fred: I see a picture of support developing​—you drink because of the direct or indirect support you get from others. For example, there’s peer pressure​—and peer pressure doesn’t have to come in the direct come-on-and-have-a-drink sort of way. But, rather, it’s more or less a desire to fit in. You do it because of the support you get from the rest of the group. Then you have the support from television. Like Joan, I remember being ten years old and drinking soda, imitating the way Frank Sinatra was drinking liquor in some movie. And then there’s the support from the family. You see the way your parents and other relatives drink. All of this says, “Hey, this is normal. This is what you should be doing.” And you do it.

Awake!: Many researchers feel that the drinking behavior of parents is one of the strongest influences on a teenager’s drinking habits. Was that true of any of you?

Dennis: I think my father’s example was the strong influence for me. When they would have parties at the house, after a few drinks, he would just be the life of the party. As kids we looked up to him.

Paul: I talked about escaping from family problems. You see, my father is an alcoholic. Now I can see that the reason we had so many problems was the alcoholism. I was trying to escape from it. Ironically, that’s one reason I turned to drinking. Another is that my mother had set up such a taboo about alcohol. That really made it attractive. Me, being so young at the time, saying, ‘What’s so magical about this that we can’t talk about it or go near it?’

Joan: My parents usually didn’t drink much. But I remember one thing about my dad, on social occasions he used to brag about how much he could drink. I kind of developed that attitude​—thinking I was unique. One time my friends and I went on a drinking binge. For hours we were drinking. It really didn’t affect me like the others. I remember thinking, ‘I’m just like my dad.’ I guess his attitude about alcohol really did affect me.

Awake!: We’ve talked about why young people drink. But why do many drink too much? Why to the point of intoxication?

Mark: That’s the reason we drank​—to get drunk. I really didn’t care for the taste.

Awake!: So you drank for the effect?

Mark: Yes.

Harry: I’d say the same thing. It’s like climbing a ladder. Each time you drink you’re reaching for a better high​—the next rung on the ladder.

Of course, that’s not to say that, when drinking, all young people set out to get high. The reasons young people turn to drink are varied. You can blame curiosity, peer pressure, adult/​parental example, the desire to escape, TV and movies, to name just a few. Have you ever found yourself tempted to try alcohol for any of those reasons? Could there be any harm in that?

It’s not that all drinking is bad. There’s nothing wrong when people of legal age drink moderately. Even so, one thing is certain: No matter how you feel about drinking, overindulgence is dangerous. The Bible cautions, “Do not come to be among heavy drinkers of wine.” (Proverbs 23:20, 21) So make a responsible decision about it, how and when you will drink. In future articles we will explore how you can do that.

[Picture on page 19]

One doesn’t need to drink because of the influence of peers, parents or TV