Alcohol Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults

Book excerpt: Alcohol continues to be the substance of choice for today’s youth, leading to serious physical, psychological, and social consequences. Alcohol Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults ably addresses this growing trend. The latest entry in the Recent Developments in Alcoholism series, it comprehensively presents a wide-ranging clinical picture of teen drinking - epidemiology, neurobiology, behavioral phenomena, diagnostic and assessment issues, prevention and treatment data - in a developmental context. Fifty expert contributors display the scientific rigor, practical wisdom, and nuanced analysis that readers have come to expect from previous volumes. Among the subjects studied in depth: - Initiation of alcohol use/abuse - Risk and protective factors for alcohol dependence - High-risk adolescent populations - Drinking habits of college students - Long-range consequences of teenage drinking - Family-, school-, and community-based prevention programs - Treatment of comorbid substance and psychiatric disorders Clinicians, researchers, and policy makers will find this a bedrock source of evidence-based knowledge, whether one’s goal is choosing an age-appropriate assessment tool for eighth graders, preventing drinking among high school students, or understanding the alcohol-friendliness of campus culture. Here is a critical resource for all professionals dedicated to helping youngsters grow up sober.