Understanding Teens: What ARE they thinking?
As parents you are aware that your late adolescent is experiencing many changes with their body and
social experiences, such as:
All of these factors mixing increase risk for high-risk behaviors and experiences – including alcohol use.
The personality characteristics consistent with your adults such as, impulsiveness and sensation seeking,
contribute to the likelihood that alcohol misuse (and sometimes abuse) patterns will develop.
Your child’s brain is also growing and changing during their teen years. Recent research has helped us
understand that a person’s brain is not physiologically mature until a person’s mid-twenties. Exposing
your teen’s brain to alcohol may cause loss of memory and interfere with brain development– which
can have permanent effects.
Click here for more information on the impact alcohol can have on your teen’s development.