ion. For whatever reason, the Indian youth place a great emphasis on the peer pressure to drink. Studies have shown that Indian youths are three times more likely to get into an alcohol related incident than their white counterparts. A 1982 study indicated that alcohol was involved in as many as 58 percent of Indian juvenile arrests. The age group with the highest rate of use was 11 to 13 years olds. Coincidentally the usage of alcohol at a young age is one of the most contributing predicting factors of later problems with alcohol abuse. PSYCHOLOGICAL: Alcohol use may contribute to further use and abuse through psychological means as well. An initial successful experience of use may reduce an individual's fear about using alcohol. This in turn leads the way to continued use that can lead to the increasing of tolerance and dependence. People who were once social drinkers have transitioned to abusive drinking because the effects of alcohol on them are better than the experiences of other activities going on in their life. An example of this is one who experiences the painful reality of a death in their family may find the experience too difficult to deal with, and the feeling produced by alcohol assists in the coping process. Some drinkers report that alcohol helps them reduce anxiety allowing them to face things that they may fear such as meeting people to flying in an airplane. Stressful life events such as divorce and job loss have led to increased use of alcohol. The stress is relieved through increased drinking. But experimental studies fail to show that increased tension leads to increased drinking. If people drink alcohol to reduce stress and tension then one would expect that drinking alcohol would increase during tension/stress arousing situations. Yet another study suggests that people do not drink alcohol to reduce tensions. They drink once the tense situation is over or has stopped and relief has set in. It ...
