Half their deaths can be attributed to alcohol-impaired driving and 50 to 60 percent of all adolescent suicides involve the use of alcohol. The single most dangerous and immediate consequence of alcohol use by young people may be that it seems both to produce and justify uninhibited behavior. Alcohol use is associated with a false sense of confidence, even invulnerability, that often leads to disregard for the health, safety and welfare of self and others. Youth who use alcohol also risk impairing their performance in school. Adolescent problem drinkers are less successful in school.
Academic achievement declines as the regularity and intensity of alcohol and drug use increases.
Drinking impedes the development of a wide range of skills and competencies required for gaining self-confidence, for maintaining healthy relationships, and for fulfilling potential. Young people in the period of rapid growth are choosing friends and learning about competition and cooperation, negotiation, and problem solving. Most are learning to accept the consequences of their behavior and are on their way to becoming responsible adults. If children learn to use alcohol to relive awkwardness or to numb such common emotions as pain, or anger, they bypass the practice of social skills, and a cycle of dependency is likely to result. When alcohol use substitutes for acquiring social competencies, social development is arrested and long term problems my ensue.