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Essay 3 - Final Draft
Essay 3 - Final Draft
Tiffany Meza
Mr. Powers
English 1302
10 April 2023
The argument compromised in this essay is the overly argumentized idea as to why
adolescents should be able to buy alcohol and consume at the age of 18, as in other countries
outside of the U.S. the use of alcohol and adolescents might grow overtime due to laws
prohibiting this usage, this gives a motive to adolescents and induces them into getting into
alcohol, almost like a dare. Many questions that can be asked as this argument takes play are,
why should adolescents be able to consume and obtain alcohol, what are the cause and effects to
adolescent alcohol purchasing, and how will adolescent drinking change the lifestyles of these
teens. The goal is to answer these intuitive questions with a sense of understanding as vice versa
the benefits from adolescent alcohol usage. The statement assuming one would think it is right to
consume alcohol is opinionated and varied amongst people, this argument is purely just an
observance and opinion based on evidence as to why adolescent drinking laws should be altered
and processed on allowing 18-year-old adolescents to purchase alcohol in the U.S. The topics on
teens in school and lifestyle changes will be overlooked, as well as peer influence, and laws
incorporated. After researching further this is how an objective argument is conducted with the
following information.
To start, the consumption of alcohol is distinctly popular amongst teens and late adolescents,
the probability that a grade of high school students being more likely to drink alcohol in their
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early academic years is high with a percentage greater over the passing generations. (Downshen
“Just about everyone knows that the legal drinking age throughout the United States is
21. But according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, almost 80%
the lifestyles of these late teens can change from daily frequent drinking to broader events, or
even allow these adolescents to Transend into an older crowd as they grow into adults, there is a
statistical inquiry stating that drinking may cause corruption to adolescent life into adulthood. As
teens grow, they get marginalized into different areas of environments that allow them to find a
place in society, whether that be in high class, middle class, or low class standing. This standing
complicates the lifestyle choices one might make and encourage unlikely behavior in their adult
lives. This argument is mainly faced around parents warning their children when hanging around
with different groups of friends and controlling who they hang around with, this bothers the teen
and corrupts their way of living, which provokes them into doing the opposite of what their
parents say, it’s a phycological response. This creates a whole different topic, peer influence.
Peer influence
Peer influence is the overall distinction around children acting out and doing things they are
unexpectedly doing; this causes great worry over parents and peers that notice these changes.
There is a common assumption that when teens hang out with people that are known for doing
wrong things, they are automatically like them and join in on the misbehavior. This predicament
that adolescents are often seen partying and getting loose with their friends, connects the dots
amongst parents that notice their children may change in attitude and mindsets when they choose
to spend more time around different crowds and friends. Authors Chwedorowicz et al declares,
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As early as from the first years of adolescence an increased sensitivity and vulnerability
to the effect of the peer social environment is observed, when there arises the need for
This statement clarifies that adolescents are much more vulnerable to peer influence through
their worries on acceptance and value on said to be friendships that affiliate teens through each
other. This is a marginalized issue within young teens that feel the need to be a part of something
and make friends, even if they know they are not good for them. This is the trouble parents have
with teens that leads them to prohibit seeing these friends. One writer Gina Tome et al. defends
the argument on teen friendships saying, “On the other hand, having friends allows to share
experiences and feelings and to learn how to solve conflicts. Not having friends, on the other
hand, leads to social isolation and limited social contacts, as there are fewer opportunities to
develop new relations and social interactional skills.” (Tome 2012). Argumentatively teen
friendships aren’t always about the wrong doings but rather the life lessons learned throughout
these years. Judgement always comes first before finding out how people truly are, and in these
cases, judgement will always be the main assumption. Young teens should be able to experience
these emotional rides with the people they meet at their young ages in order to fully grow into a
Fortunately, there are laws stopping this massive spread from becoming worldwide. Legal
laws in the United States declare that human beings must be over the age of 21 to obtain and
purchase alcohol (only in the U.S). One journal by Alexander C. Wagenaar says,
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“The trend toward lower legal drinking ages stopped by 1975 as evidence began to
accumulate that lower the drinking age is resulted in an increase the alcohol related
problems particularly traffic accidents among the 18- to 20-year-old population” (206).
This supports argumentized inquiries, although rates have been found, educational systems and
officials have made it mandatory to process these incidents into learning projectiles and focused
on stopping these incidents from continuing. Another article on Teen Driving Risk by Kenneth H.
Beck et al. states that, “graduated driver licensing programs, which impose restrictions on when
teens are licensed and under what conditions they may drive, has been shown to reduce MVC
risk for young drivers.” (73). The argument that, adolescents should be able to drink and
purchase alcohol to overthrow law breaking and misbehavior against the laws surrounding this is
unjustifiable. Writers, Fertig, Angela R, and Tara Watson say that “debate over the drinking age
as a policy tool is re-emerging. In 2008, over 100 college presidents and chancellors from around
the country, including the presidents of Duke, Dartmouth, Tufts, and Ohio State, signed a
petition encouraging discussion about whether to reduce the drinking age to 18” (737). this gave
hope that changes were being made and attention was provoked from these higher officials.
Unless more people demand a change in overall definable laws, prevention is invariable. An
Local SH policies that include strict liability and civil penalties that are imposed
settings, particularly among adolescents who have already initiated alcohol use.
This means that social events and gatherings where adolescents have already been exposed to
drinking and substance usage from other situations, its unstoppable to control a whole generation
when consumptions have already taken place. This is where other laws come into play as others
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point out controversial topics such as Gun control and the age prohibitions on being able to buy a
gun at the young age of 18. Too many controversial topics can be crossed when speaking among
Conclusion
Overall, the information gathered in this analytical argument was intended to support a
commonly debatable issue surrounding adolescent teen drinking rights and demanding a change
in laws and society views. While there are still many possibilities on why disagreements are
made in this topic, this research was intended by high popular demands on teens that feel
dragged down in political actions that feel ignored. Right now, it may not be much of worry to
our generation, but kids born in the 2000’s down are maturing scientifically quicker than those
born in the late 90’s as stated in an article by Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson and Stefanie
Mollborn, we find that, “hardship in several domains during childhood and adolescence is
associated with feeling relatively older and self-identifying as an adult in the late teens and
twenties.” This supports the claim that our generation is maturing quicker, and it is noticed. All
that is asked after this conducted essay is that more inclusion should be considered amongst late
teens and attention should be focused more on this generation being that an obvious shuffle will
be constructed by the next decade and wave of officials. More changes need to be made and
Works cited
Beck, Kenneth H., et al. “Teen Driving Risk: The Promise of Parental Influence and Public
Policy.” Health Education & Behavior, vol. 29, no. 1, 2002, pp. 73–84. JSTOR,
Chwedorowicz, R., Skarżyński, H., Pucek, W., & Studziński, T. (2017). Neurophysiological
doi:https://doi.org/10.5604/12321966.1234002
https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/alcohol.html
Fertig, Angela R, and Tara Watson. “Minimum drinking age laws and infant health
doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2009.02.006
Johnson, Monica Kirkpatrick, and Stefanie Mollborn. “Growing up Faster, Feeling Older:
39-60. doi:10.1177/019027250907200105
Paschall, Mallie J et al. “Relationships between social host laws and underage drinking: findings
Tomé, Gina et al. “How can peer group influence the behavior of adolescents: explanatory
doi:10.5539/gjhs.v4n2p26