Nayra+Cruz

**__KEY WORD: Alcohol and Adolescent Brain Development:__

"** Adolescence, broadly defined as the second decade of life, is the period of time during which many people begin to use alcohol and other drugs, and often do so heavily. According to the 2002 Monitoring the Future survey, roughly 30% of 12th graders reported drinking five or more drinks in a row in the two weeks before being surveyed (Johnston et al, 2003). This pattern of heavy, intermittent drinking is also prevalent among college students (White et al, 2002a) and young military personnel (Bray, 1996). While levels of alcohol use among adolescents remain high, the perceived risk associated with such use appears to be declining. From 1992 to 2002, the percentage of 12th graders perceiving "great risk of harm" associated with drinking four or five drinks per day, nearly everyday, dropped from 71% to 59% (Johnston et al, 2003). It does not appear that adolescent alcohol abuse is a problem that will soon disappear**." **  **__Copied from:[|http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/Adolescence/__]  __Reflection/summary:__ well as a matter a fact i agree with** **this quote because its true there is alot of people who drink and drive and think its a joke. I honestly don't think its a joke and me in my opinion i really do not like people that take it as a joke because thats so not fair if they they are to drunk and crash because honestly they can have a very serious accident and they could end up killing innocent people.**

__**KEY WORD:**__ =__**Teenage Brains Really Are Different From Child Or Adult Brains:**__ =

Writing in the article, Dr. Giedd comments, "Adolescence is a time of substantial neurobiological and behavioral change, but the teen brain is not a broken or defective adult brain. The adaptive potential of the overproduction/selective elimination process, increased connectivity and integration of disparate brain functions, changing reward systems and frontal/limbic balance, and the accompanying behaviors of separation from family of origin, increased risk taking, and increased sensation seeking have been highly adaptive in our past and may be so in our future. These changes and the enormous plasticity of the teen brain make adolescence a time of great risk and great opportunity." 

 __**Copied from:**__ <span style="color: rgb(40, 251, 61)"> <span style="color: rgb(4, 103, 246)">__<span style="color: rgb(40, 251, 61)">**http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328112127.htm** __ <span style="color: rgb(4, 103, 246)"> <span style="color: rgb(4, 103, 246)">  <span style="color: rgb(4, 103, 246)">  <span style="color: rgb(4, 103, 246)">