Studies Show Teenage Drinking Kills Brain Cells; Oh, That Explains

Studies Show Teenage Drinking Kills Brain Cells; Oh, That Explains Everything

We always knew teens often walk a bit on the wild side, and we had the inclination to misbehave abundantly ourselves.

Now we know at least part of the reason for our wiliness.

Studies suggest that alcohol causes more damage to the developing brains of teenagers than researchers previously thought and injures them more than it does adult brains. The research also suggests that heavy teen drinking may undermine the neurological connections needed to avoid alcoholism.

“There is no doubt about it now: there are long-term cognitive consequences to excessive drinking of alcohol in adolescence,” said Aaron White, an assistant research professor in the psychiatry department at Duke University. “We definitely didn’t know five or ten years ago that alcohol affected the teen brain differently. Now there’s a sense of urgency. It’s the same place we were in when everyone realized what a bad thing it was for pregnant women to drink alcohol.”

Alcohol also seems to do damage to the frontal areas of the adolescent brain, which are vital for...