| We always knew teens often walk a bit on the | | | | assistant research professor in the psychiatry |
| wild side, and we had the inclination to misbehave | | | | department at Duke University. "We definitely |
| abundantly ourselves.Now we know at least part | | | | didn't know five or ten years ago that alcohol |
| of the reason for our wiliness.Studies suggest that | | | | affected the teen brain differently. Now there's a |
| alcohol causes more damage to the developing | | | | sense of urgency. It's the same place we were in |
| brains of teenagers than researchers previously | | | | when everyone realized what a bad thing it was |
| thought and injures them more than it does adult | | | | for pregnant women to drink alcohol."Alcohol also |
| brains. The research also suggests that heavy | | | | seems to do damage to the frontal areas of the |
| teen drinking may undermine the neurological | | | | adolescent brain, which are vital for controlling |
| connections needed to avoid alcoholism."There is | | | | impulses and thinking through consequences of |
| no doubt about it now: there are long-term | | | | actions, which are abilities many addicts and |
| cognitive consequences to excessive drinking of | | | | alcoholics of all ages are disastrously lacking. |
| alcohol in adolescence," said Aaron White, an | | | | |