Legal Drinking Age
The drinking age at 21 in the United States is draconian, placing our country on par with the most socially repressed in the world. "Most drinking ages worldwide are at maximum 18, if not less, which makes sense for legal drinking ages. And provided you act like a grown up, you can probably be served a cerveza with that fish taco anywhere, regardless of age," (Crislip). I have traveled to Europe, where young people drink responsibly because they have been enjoying wine and beer at family gatherings since they were 12 years old. The United States has ineffective and even hypocritical laws related to the minimum drinking age (MLDA). At age 18, a young person is eligible to serve in the army but not order a beer. At age 18, a young person is eligible to vote but not to choose what glass of wine to order with…...
mlaWorks Cited
Crislip, Kathleen. "Alcohol Drinking Ages Around the World." About.com. Retrieved online: http://studenttravel.about.com/od/studentpartyguide/a/drinking_age.htm
Engs, Ruth C. "Why the drinking age should be lowered: An opinion based upon research." Adapted from and in "Drinking on Campus," CQ Researcher 8 (March 20,1998):257. Retrieved online: http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/cqoped.html
Johnson, Alex A. "Debate on lower drinking age bubbling up." MSNBC. 14 Aug 2007. Retrieved online: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20249460/ns/health-addictions/t/debate-lower-drinking-age-bubbling/#.Ts7xRkrwM7A
McCardell, John M. "Commentary: Drinking age of 21 doesn't work." CNN.com. 16 Sept. 2009. Retrieved online: http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-16/politics/mccardell.lower.drinking.age_1_drinking-age-binge-drinking-federal-highway-appropriation?_s=PM:POLITICS
MLDA
Legal Drinking Age in the U.S.
Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) legislation aims to reduce alcohol use among those under 21, to prevent traffic deaths, and to avoid other negative outcomes. The minimum drinking age is a controversial issue in the United States today, and many recent efforts have aimed to reduce or qualify the minimum legal age at which drinking may occur. If these attempts are successful, the minimum drinking age would be lowered and the effects would be disastrous. Alcohol consumption poses many dangers to young people, including increases in accidents, fatalities and alcohol abuse problems. Therefore, this paper presents an argument in favor of keeping the MLDA at 21.
Proponents of lowering the drinking age argue that young people under the age of 21 tend to drink in a more abuse manner than do those of legal age, as alcohol is seen as a "forbidden fruit." One such proponent…...
mlaReferences
2004). The Drinking Age Should Be Lowered: An Interview with Dr. Ruth Engs. Alcohol and Youth Issues. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol-info/YouthIssues/index.html .
Cucchiaro S, Ferreira, J, Sicherman A. (1974). The Effect of the 18-Year-old Drinking Age on Auto Accidents. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Operations Research Center.
Kuhn, C., Swartzwelder, S., and Wilson, W.. (1998). Buzzed -- The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy. W.W. Norton & Company
Meilman, P., Stone, J., Gaylor, M., and Turco, H. (1990). Alcohol consumption by college undergraduates: Current use and 10-year trends. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 51 (5), 389-395.
Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered to 18
RESOLVED: At present the minimum legal drinking age of 21 years of age is controlled by the federal government by means of federal highway funds. This strips states of their right to self-govern and the higher MLDA is inconsistent with other rights allowed 18-year-olds.
PRO: In favor of lowering the minimum legal drinking age to 18 years of age
Premise 1: studies showing a decline in alcoholic incidents are misleading
Premise 2: the current law is not deterring under age drinking
Premise 3: the minimum legal drinking age of 21 years is socially unjust
Premise 4: it is now a political rather than a social issue
The minimum legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 years of age to reinstate individual and states' rights.
The debate over the minimum legal drinking age can be heard on campuses and in state legislative halls throughout the country. Although there might have…...
mlaWORKS CITED
Engs, Ruth. "The Drinking Age Debate Current Approach to Controlling Underage
Drinking Isn't Working." Denver Rocky Mountain News May 10, 1998, 1B
Madison, Andrew Jepsen. "Today's Mail -- Lower Drinking Age Would Help
Economy." Wisconsin State Journal June 26, 1995 7A
America, when a person reaches the age of 18 he can die for his country, obtain credit, get married, get divorced and be charged in criminal court. By all appearances the age of 18 sets the stage for adulthood and all that it entails. In a curious contradiction to that, however, America insists on maintaining a drinking age of 21 years old. While 18-year-olds can do all of the above except drink, individual states, under the threat of reduced federal interstate funding, keep the legal age of drinking at 21 years of age.
The minimum legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 because it (age) is not a contributing factor in the number of accidents/deaths that involve young people between 18 and 21 in the United States.
Around the nation states wrestle with the topic of legal drinking age. When the federal government began refusing to fund highways in any…...
mlaReferences
States take innovative steps to curb drunken driving; With the number of accidents rising, they're doing everything from enlisting clergy to sobriety checks.(USA)
The Christian Science Monitor; December 12, 2002
Survey of College Students' Drinking Habits Offers Sobering Numbers.
Knight Ridder Washington Bureau (Washington) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News); April 10, 2002
Lowering Drinking Age in the United States
The drinking age in the United States has been 21 years old since 1984 because it was enacted in law. However, in the past few years, there have been numerous calls to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18 years. These calls have generated significant controversy and concern throughout the country since the issue can be approached from two general paradigms that shape people's perspectives. First, there are concerns why 18-year-olds are considered mature enough to make decisions like joining the armed forces and driving but are regarded as inadequately mature to consume alcohol. Secondly, the other paradigm postulates that allowing individuals to start drinking at 18 years will not ensure they drink responsibly, which enhances the risk of injury or death not only to the individuals themselves but others also.
Evaluation of the Paradigms
The first paradigm seems to provide better arguments regarding lowering…...
mlaReferences
Griggs, B. (2015, January 4). Should the U.S. Lower Its Drinking Age? CNN. Retrieved December 13, 2015, from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/16/us/legal-drinking-age/
Streeter, R. (2009, February 19). The Debate on Lowering the Drinking Age. CBS News. Retrieved December 13, 2015, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-debate-on-lowering-the-drinking-age/4/
The issue was a charged issue that many people felt very strongly about, i.e. race and was an allowable and supported social stigma, and yet when faced with the real life decision to break the taboo and serve Chinese people they did so with little hesitation and then effectively lied about it in self report. (Pager & Lincoln, 2005, p. 355)
Drinking and driving is a seriously socially charged issue that could have the same self-report results if given the correct avenue to do so. The self-report dogmatic dialogue regarding drinking and driving is an absolute rejection of the behavior (even after 1-2 drinks as is asked in the New Zealand Study) and yet this is an attitude and a self-report dogma, what we would say when offered the social choice, not a real reflection of how individuals would behave if given the opportunity to drink and drive. Another fault…...
mlaReferences
Brownfield, K., Fernando, K., & Halberstadt, J. (2003). Indirect Effects of Lowering the Drinking Age on New Zealand Students' Alcohol-Related Behaviours and Attitudes. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 32(1), 22. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001970912
Fagan, J. (2005, September). Adolescents, Maturity, and the Law: Why Science and Development Matter in Juvenile Justice. The American Prospect, 16, 5.
Fillmore, M.T., Carscadden, J.L., & Vogel-Sprott, M. (1998). Alcohol, Cognitive Impairment and Expectancies. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 59(2), 174.
A and Lincoln Q. Walking the Talk? What Employers Say vs. What They Do. American Sociological Review 70: 2005, 355-380.
The Drinking AgeIs it fair that the legal drinking age in the U.S. is 21 when it is lower in other counties? There is much debate surrounding the legal drinking age in the United States. Some argue that it is unfair that the drinking age is 21 when it is lower in other countries. Others maintain that the drinking age should remain at 21 in order to protect the safety of young adults. There are a number of valid arguments on both sides of the issue. Proponents of a lower drinking age often point to European countries where young adults are legally allowed to drink at a younger age (Toomey). They argue that this allows young adults to learn how to drink responsibly in a controlled environment. However, opponents of a lower drinking age argue that alcohol consumption can interfere with brain development in young adults. They also point to…...
mlaWorks CitedSaylor, Drew K. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Heavy drinking on college campuses: No reason to change minimum legal drinking age of 21.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Journal of American college health 59.4 (2011): 330-333.Toomey, Traci L., Carolyn Rosenfeld, and Alexander C. Wagenaar. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The minimum legal drinking age: History, effectiveness, and ongoing debate.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Alcohol Health and Research World 20.4 (1996): 213.
This means that alcohol is made accessible to underage persons and in this way, they start consuming alcohol at a young age. It is for this reason that the legal drinking age should not be lowered, but actually increased to reduce the chances of it being made available to those who are underage. Increasing the minimum legal drinking age to at least 25 years, like India, will go a long way in ensuring that underage drinking does not take place. Teenagers can be able to access alcohol with the help of their older friends and siblings who may be in college. This will ensure that only responsible adults will have access to alcohol. There have also been cases of increased rates of binge drinking among college age youths and the increase in the minimum legal age for drinking will go a long way in helping preventing this (Kypri et…...
mlaWorks Cited
Atwood, T. The Consequences of Underage Drinking. 1 May. 2006. 23 Apr. 2010,
Berridge V., Herring R. And Thom B. "Binge Drinking: A Confused Concept and its
Contemporary History" Social History of Medicine 22.3 (2009): 597-607
Etiology of Campus Binge Drinking
Drinking and Alcoholism
A Failed Experiment in Social Control
The consumption of alcohol has always been a focus of government efforts to limits its use, due to the potential for abuse, the financial burden imposed upon social programs, and its association with criminal activity. Between 1920 and 1934 the consumption of alcohol was outlawed in the United States, with the intention of addressing these social problems. During the first year following the enactment of Prohibition, alcohol-related deaths, psychosis, and arrests all declined by 20-40%, but between 1921 and 1927 these measures reveal a sharp increase to near pre-Prohibition levels (Miron and Zwiebel, 1991). By the end of Prohibition, which correlates with the start of the Great Depression, alcohol consumption leveled out at around 60-70% of pre-Prohibition levels despite costing three times as much for a drink. Given the infamous criminal activity that emerged around the illegal manufacture and…...
mlaReferences
Amethyst Initiative. (2008). Amethyst Initiative: Rethinking the drinking age. Retrieved July 15, 2011 from http://www.amethystinitiative.org/statement/
Beseler, Cheryl L., Taylor, Laura A., Leeman, Robert F. (2010). Alcohol-Use Disorder criteria and "binge" drinking in undergraduates. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 71, 418-423.
Grucza, Richard A., Norberg, Karen E., and Beirut, Laura J. (2009). Binge drinking among youths and young adults in the United States: 1979-2006. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 48, 692-702.
Leppel, Karen. (2006). College binge drinking: Deviant vs. mainstream behavior. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 32, 519-525.
This act enlarged the labels on the cigarettes, and required that the labels on cigarettes and cigarette ads say things like,."..Cause lung cancer...may complicate pregnancy...quitting smoking now greatly reduces hazards to your health... may result in low birth weight and fetal injury." Yet despite all these attempts to educate, all the package warnings and all the public service ads, we still see that despite the millions of dollars spent on smoking prevention each year, every year sees more and more people taking up the habit, until today death from cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer in the United States, contributed in a great part by smoking. And yet we keep legislating, when then proof shows that what we are doing is not working.
Our discussion of vice-based legislation now brings us to the subject of fattening foods. In 2002, a lawyer in New York filed suit against the four…...
mlaReference:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-Attributable Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost-United States, 1984. MMWR 1997 46:444-51.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal Trade Commission Request for Comments Concerning Regulations Implementing the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986. Accessed [March 7, 2000]. Health Canada New Cigarette labeling Measures.http://www.tobaccolaw.org/Documents/Events/HealthCanadaNewcigarettelabellingmeasures.htm "
National Cancer Institute. Cigars Health Effects and Trends. Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 9. Bethesda (MD): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. NIH Publication No. 98-4302, 1998.
Paenting Style Influence on Excess Alcohol Intake Among Jewish Youth
Clinical Psychology
The health hazads that ae associated with adolescent alcohol use ae well documented, and thee is gowing ecognition among policymakes and clinicians alike that moe needs to be done to addess this public health theat. The pupose of this study was to examine the effects of diffeent paenting styles on alcohol consumption levels among Jewish college students in the United States. The study daws on attachment theoy, social leaning theoy, and a paenting style model as the main theoetical famewoks to evaluate the effects of diffeent paenting styles on alcohol consumption levels among Jewish adolescents to develop infomed answes to the study's thee guiding eseach questions concening the elationship between peceived paenting style and excess alcohol use of male, Jewish, college students aged 18-26 yeas, the elationship between academic achievement and the alcohol use fequency of male Jewish college students…...
mlareferences to gender.
Scoring: The PAQ is scored easily by summing the individual items to comprise the subscale scores. Scores on each subscale range from 10 to 50.
Author: Dr. John R. Buri, Department of Psychology, University of St. Thomas, 2115
Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105.
Source: Buri, J.R. (1991). Parental Authority Questionnaire, Journal of Personality and Social Assessment, 57, 110-119
Paenting Style Influence on Excess Alcohol Intake Among Jewish Youth
Clinical Psychology
The health hazads that ae associated with adolescent alcohol use ae well documented, and thee is gowing ecognition among policymakes and clinicians alike that moe needs to be done to addess this public health theat. The pupose of this study was to examine the effects of diffeent paenting styles on alcohol consumption levels among Jewish college students in the United States. The study daws on attachment theoy, social leaning theoy, and a paenting style model as the main theoetical famewoks to evaluate the effects of diffeent paenting styles on alcohol consumption levels among Jewish adolescents to develop infomed answes to the study's thee guiding eseach questions concening the elationship between peceived paenting style and excess alcohol use of male, Jewish, college students aged 18-26 yeas, the elationship between academic achievement and the alcohol use fequency of male Jewish college students…...
mlareferences to gender.
Scoring: The PAQ is scored easily by summing the individual items to comprise the subscale scores. Scores on each subscale range from 10 to 50.
Author: Dr. John R. Buri, Department of Psychology, University of St. Thomas, 2115
Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105.
Source: Buri, J.R. (1991). Parental Authority Questionnaire, Journal of Personality and Social Assessment, 57, 110-119
Legal Age for Alcohol Consumption
Laws are established for the legal age of alcohol consumption in order to attend to the best interests of both youth and society at large. With exposure to such influences as music, television, movies, and peers, youth are under pressure to behave in certain ways and partake in certain activities to be perceived as being "cool." Alcohol consumption among young people may be seen as a way to loosen up, fit in, or even possibly as a sign of rebellion against parents, teachers, and figures of authority in general.
It is often difficult for youth to know their limits and exactly how much alcohol they can consume and yet still be somewhat "in control." This results in increased risks of alcohol poisonings, drunk driving, and in some cases death among the adolescent population. Therefore, with the well being of youth and society in mind, it would not…...
mlaReferences
Hot topic: Underage teen drinking." Website of Congresswoman Roybal-Allard. http://www/house.gov/roybal-allard/ht_underage.htm.
Statistics: Underage drinking." SADD Online. http://www.saddonline.com/stats.htm.
Survey says: Teen alcohol use on the rise." The Citizen: The 6th Area Support Group Online Newspaper 30.10 May 22, 2001. http://www.stuttgart.army.mil/community/citizen/2001/0522/surveys.htm.
Richardson, A. & Budd, T. "Young adults, alcohol, crime and disorder." Criminal Behavior and Mental Health 13.1 (2003): 5-16.
Young Drivers
Perhaps it is unfair to label all younger drivers as reckless and dangerous. At the very least, they are most certainly less experienced and adept at driving, on average. Since a firm and enforced age is the best way to regulate who can drive for the first time, that is the method that should remain. On average, teen drivers are restricted or banned from driving for several reasons. Those reasons include insufficient brain development, lack of responsibility and a propensity to not pay proper attention. While typecasting people based on age is not always fair, there are reasons behind the age restriction.
Analysis
The first main point to consider when it comes to why children under sixteen should not be driving, at least in an unrestricted way, is insufficient brain development. The ideas and theories about the broader subject development do vary. However, there are some things that tend to be…...
Alcohol
How effective has the legal prohibition of alcohol been in controlling crime? A recent Department of Justice Report (U.S. Department of Justice) said that alcohol was a factor in 40% of all violent crimes and accounted for 40.9% of all traffic fatalities in the U.S.A. In the last decade. ut these figures were 34% and 29%, respectively, lower than those of the previous decade. The Report further stated that arrests conducted for driving under the influence of alcohol correspondingly declined and attributed this to the establishment of the legal and uniform drinking age in the early 1980s.
Elucidating, the Report said that, approximately 3 million violent crimes occurred each year in that decade where the offenders were drinking at the time. And although arrests were made in every age group, those made on offenders below 21 notably decreased. The rate of intoxication in fatal accidents, it said, likewise went down in…...
mlaBibliography
1. Abbe, Winfield. Toughening Liquor Laws Will Do Little to Sober Our Drunk Culture.
Athens Banner Herald, February 2002. (accessed 25:03:03). http://www.*****/stories/022202/let_letter4.shtml
2. Alcoholics Anonymous. Alcohol. (accessed 25:03:03). http://soc.qc.edu/aa/aager.html
3. Davis, George. Why Crime? Action Sunshine Coast Crime Prevention Program. Crime Prevention through Community Building, 2000. (accessed 25:03:03). http://www.suncoastcentral.com/crimeprevention
There are a number of different subtopics you could explore when writing a paper about the general topic of alcohol consumption. How to choose the right topic depends on what type of paper you want to write about alcohol consumption. If you are looking to write an informative essay, then you could write about the impact of alcohol consumption on the body, while an argumentative essay might focus on whether having 21 as the legal drinking age is logical given that 18 is considered an “adult” for all other purposes. So, it....
1. The effects of alcohol on the body and brain
2. The cultural significance of alcohol consumption in different societies
3. The history of alcohol prohibition and its impact on society
4. The relationship between alcohol consumption and mental health issues
5. Alcohol advertising and its influence on consumer behavior
6. The role of alcohol in social settings and its impact on social dynamics
7. Alcohol addiction and treatment options
8. The legal drinking age and arguments for/against lowering or raising it
9. Alcohol-related violence and its consequences
10. The economics of the alcohol industry and its impact on society.
11. The impact of alcohol on relationships and family dynamics
12.....
Yes, there are many essay topics that present opposing viewpoints and can be used for debating instructional plans for scaffolding struggling writers. Some examples of such topics include:
1. Should standardized testing be used as the primary measure of student achievement?
2. Is technology helpful or harmful for student learning?
3. Should school uniforms be mandatory in all schools?
4. Is the use of social media beneficial or detrimental to teenagers' mental health?
5. Should college athletes be paid for their participation in sports?
These topics can be used to engage students in critical thinking and argumentation, allowing struggling writers to practice constructing arguments and organizing....
1. "The Risk of Allowing 16-year-old Teenagers to Drive: A Safety Concern"
2. "Examining the Psychological and Cognitive Factors Behind Teen Driving: Why 16-year-olds Shouldn't Be Behind the Wheel"
3. "Analyzing the Legal and Ethical Implications of Allowing 16-year-old Teenagers to Drive"
4. "The Importance of Experience: Why 16-year-olds Should Wait to Obtain Their Driver's License"
5. "Understanding the Impact of Hormones and Emotional Development on Teen Driving: Why 16-year-olds are Not Ready"
6. "Analyzing Statistics and Accident Rates: The Case against Allowing 16-year-old Teenagers to Drive"
7. "Individual Freedom vs. Public Safety: The Debate over Allowing 16-year-olds to Drive"
8. "The Role of Parental Guidance and....
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