What health risks are associated with teen alcohol?

Many: Brains are not fully developed until age 25. Alcohol at early age affects brain development and are more likely to become addicted and more severely so. There is more risk of poor academic performance and poor social skill development. There is also increased risk of depression, and other psych disorders. Alcohol use leads to high risk behavior including unprotected sex and other drug use.

Teen alcohol: Squeglia et al in 2012 showed that adolescents who drink heavily in their teenage years exhibit less efficient processing of information and have less activation in certain brain areas than those who do not start to drink. The researchers also found that the teens who drank heavily had brains that were less efficient at processing information than the nondrinkers.