Quite often, if someone is concerned about a loved one and alcohol abuse, they are concerned about an adult. However, it is possible these days that the person involved is a child. You may want to know the short-term and long-term effects of alcohol in children for future reference. Hopefully you’ll never need the information, but it’s good to have just in case.

Children that start using alcohol are four times more likely to develop an alcohol addiction than children who avoid it. Addiction, however, is not the only problem associated with alcohol abuse. The following are some of the other effects that come with children using alcohol.

Altered Perceptions and Emotions

Reports indicate that children who use alcohol develop an altered perception. They may not be able to accurately perceive dangerous situations or realize when things aren’t quite right. Because they may not perceive things correctly, they may have emotional outbursts over the littlest circumstances that aren’t the way they prefer.

Another psychological effect includes confusion. Alcohol use may also cause the user to exhibit poor judgment and take unhealthy risks. This is not a good combination, especially when you consider how children or teens often feel invulnerable.

Distorted Vision

Alcohol use in children may affect the proper growth of their eyes. They may begin to “see things” that aren’t there or they may have problems seeing things correctly. In either case, their vision is adversely affected which could result in poor learning ability.

Memory Loss

Research has shown that children and adolescents who abuse alcohol simply cannot remember things well. In fact, they may remember up to 10 percent less than their counterparts that don’t drink. Because they don’t remember as much, again their learning ability can be greatly affected.

Damage to the Liver

If alcohol abuse continues for long enough, children who drink can cause serious damage to their liver. This could lead them to develop hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), cirrhosis of the liver (swelling of the liver that is irreversible), or possibly liver failure.  

Lifelong Alcohol Problems

The longer a child uses alcohol, the more likely they are to develop lifelong alcohol problems. In fact, over 40 percent of children that began drinking before turning 13 ended up having an alcohol dependency issue. They may be able to stop drinking for a while but are more likely to return to alcohol at some point in their future.

No parent wants to think about their adult child having a problem with drinking. However, more and more children and teens are beginning to drink long before they are legally allowed. Knowing the short-term and long-term effects of alcoholism in children may encourage you to do everything in your power to keep your children alcohol free.