Up until recently, most parents and educators were not aware that students were using aerosol cans to get high, and so they did not think anything of allowing young people to be around aerosol cans and to purchase items where aerosol was used as a propellant. Most aerosol products are not dangerous when they are used as directed, but it is the intentional misuse that poses a serious risk (Levy, et al
Cinnamon The "cinnamon challenge" is becoming popular among young people based on a child who was dared to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon within one minute with no water. Cinnamon coats and dries out the mouth, and can cause gagging, coughing, vomiting, and choking (Painter, 2012)
Nitric Oxide and Aerosol Cans The nitric oxide that is found in aerosol cans is being inhaled - most often by young people who are looking for a cheap, quick high. These aerosols are used as an alternative to street drugs because they are inexpensive and very easy to get access to at just about any store (Sharp & Rosenberg, 2005)
Energy Boosters The use of energy boosters (or the misuse of same) is difficult to track. There are no poison control codes that are efficiently used for overuse or overdose on energy boosters, and there is more caffeine in these boosters than the limits the FDA has set for caffeine in standard drinks (Warburton, Bersellini, & Sweeney, 2001)
Although there might have been good intentions for the current legal drinking age of 21, there are many factors that cannot be ignored in favor of lowering the minimum legal drinking age to 18 years. Research shows a decrease in problems associated with drinking and driving that has paralleled a decrease in the per capita consumption of alcohol, but the declines started in 1980 (Engs 1b)
Twenty-one is not a magic age for maturity. If we are to grant serious legal rights such as marriage, voting, debt, and parenting to an 18-year-old then we should also grant him the legal right to buy a beer (Madison p7a)
Someone somewhere decided that he could take on all of the adult roles of society except this one (White 2c). There are states such as Wisconsin who have over the years introduced bills to lower the minimum legal drinking age to 18 years, but have met with little success due to the threat of losing federal highway funds (Schaub p14a)
Hypocrisy is another issue concerning the current minimum legal drinking age. At 18 years of age a person may live on his own (White 2c)
Sometimes we simply brood endlessly over possible outcomes or agonize about paths to pursue." (Kidder, 1996) I would like to think that I attend a University that has faith in one's ability to be a student first, regardless of a person's minor blips in an almost perfect life
Another major influence on adolescent social development is peers. The nature of this influence can be positive, negative, or both, but for most adolescents the importance of peers to identity exploration and behavioral choices cannot be overestimated (Brechwald & Prinstein, 2011)
The formation of identity during adolescence is one of the most important tasks that a teenager must undertake, according to Erik Erikson (ACT for Youth, 2002). The coincident emergence of risk-taking behavior and identity exploration is probably linked, since experimenting with new social roles and increased autonomy is inherently risky (Brown et al
Risk Factors Pitkanen (2006) reviewed the research literature concerning risk factors for underage drinking and found that most fit into two categories: (1) Family and (2) socio-emotional (Table 1). Table 1. Risk factors for underage drinking (Pitkanen, 2006)
Unfortunately, habitual heavy alcohol use will result in significant changes in an adolescent's brain. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are both smaller in size, while the local integrity of the white matter is compromised in eight brain regions (Squeglia, Jacobus, & Tapert, 2009)
It is also at this level that alcohol usually damages the relationship between the teenager and other people around him/her. There are various reasons why teenagers drink (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2012); one of the reasons is the environment that the teenager grew up in
In the setting of commitment to innovation, but also high quality standards, Innocent would be expected to increase its market presence through both improvements and new product creations. This opportunity is quite unique as it allows Innocence to reshape the market to its advantage (Bock, 2010)
The market to which these products would be addressed include women in the above average income category, who can afford to provide a healthy and conscious nutrition to their families. These customers are the primary shoppers for their households and they make most grocery related purchases (Pooler and Pooler, 2003)
Furnham asserts that "the way parents bring up their children is the central and causative issue in determining their preferences" (MacLachlan & Smyth, 34); Grace Barnes, Michael Farrell, and Sarbani Banerjee in their 1995 study likewise found that "quality of parenting is critically important for adolescent outcomes" (Boyd, Howard, & Zucker, 27). How do these findings relate to the problem of binge drinking? Simply put, a parent who has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol is likely to have a child who drinks; in other words, "adolescents learn to drink by observing parents drink" (Blane, 34)
This sentiment is echoed in multiple studies. Furnham asserts that "the way parents bring up their children is the central and causative issue in determining their preferences" (MacLachlan & Smyth, 34); Grace Barnes, Michael Farrell, and Sarbani Banerjee in their 1995 study likewise found that "quality of parenting is critically important for adolescent outcomes" (Boyd, Howard, & Zucker, 27)
Binge Drinking on College Campuses The problem of binge drinking on college campuses has become a great concern over the past few years. With an estimated 1700 drinking-related deaths per annum on college campuses, the growing interest is not surprising (Dowdall, 4)
There is debate over the specific elements that define a binge drinker; scholars propose variations in the number of drinks, the ratio of body weight to volume consumed, and the time span in which the drinking occurs. For example, the Wechsler study conducted in 1999 defines binge drinking as, "consuming five or more drinks in a row one or more times during a two weeks period" (Kellogg, 2)