Holidays make alcohol available to teens

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Alcohol may be more available to teens during the holidays because it is used for cooking, punches, warm beverages and entertaining, a health professional says.

Ruth Gassman, director of the Indiana Prevention Resource Center in Indiana University's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, said parents and caregivers are extra busy preparing for family gatherings and guests during the holidays and may not notice teens helping themselves to alcohol.

Alcohol manufacturers are in full swing during the holiday season to advertise festively packaged, often sweet-tasting concoctions that appeal to youth, Gassman said.

"Adults, including visitors to the home such as uncles, grandparents and older cousins, may bend youth alcohol prohibitions during the holiday season as a treat or gesture of affection," Gassman said in a statement. "Perhaps well meaning, giving alcohol to youth or making it readily available to them is a recipe fraught with risk."

Drinking alcohol increases adolescents' chances of illness and injury and reduces their ability to regulate sleep, mood, impulse control and communication, Gassman said.