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