Chapter 1 The Problem and its Settings

This chapter contains a brief introduction about the problem. Included in this chapter is the statement of the problem, the significance of the study, and the terms used in the study with its corresponding definition.

Introduction Alcoholism is observable globally and most started in their adolescent period. Alcohol is the number one abused substance by teenagers in the United States (WHO, 2002). First use of alcohol of American youth typically begins around age 13. By their senior year, 64 percent of high school students say they have been drunk at least once; 33 percent say they have been drunk in the past month. Among teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 who say they drink heavily (five or more drinks on five or more occasions in the past month); 77 percent had at least one serious problem related to drinking in the past year; 63 percent had built up tolerance to the effects of alcohol; 20 percent reported psychological problems related to their drinking; 12 percent reported health problems related to their drinking. Teenagers who drink heavily are more likely to cut class or skip school, perform poorly in school, take sexual risks, and commit suicide. Heavy drinking increases the likelihood of delinquent and violent behaviour including running away from home, fighting, vandalizing property, stealing and getting arrested (Monitoring the Future: National Results on Adolescent Drug Use, Overview of Key Findings, 2001) It's prevalence in this age group is quite staggering. According to the

National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse - Columbia University, "underage drinkers account for 11.4% of all the alcohol consumed in the United States. (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Statistics Office, 2004 Retrieved from http://alcoholcostcalculator.org/kids/teens/print-teens.php)

On the average, Filipino youths start drinking alcohol at the age of 16 or 17. However, there are also many cases when children as young as 12 years old are already drinking alcoholic beverages. The teenagers said their family, friends, and the mass media have influenced them to experiment with drinking alcohol. Underscoring the critical role that the family plays in youth behaviours, young people seem to take their cue from their own parents' attitudes and behaviour. Thus, a boy who grows up with an alcoholic father is more likely to become one himself. In General Santos City, the media greatly influences the behavior of the youth and the adults. Posters and print-ads about different brands of alcoholic beverages can be observed everywhere in the city especially in the downtown areas. The presence of establishments such as bars that offer alcoholic beverages is seen as a contributing factor to the engagement of teenagers in alcoholism. As early as high school, students are already seen drinking.

Statement of the problem The study aimed to determine the effects liquor advertisement on teenagers early engagement in alcoholism. Specifically, this study was conducted to answer the following questions:

1. How many students in Irineo L. Santiago High School are engaged to alcoholism? 2. What are percentage of the students engagement to alcoholism in terms of: 2.1. Age 2.2. Sex 2.3. Year level 3. At what age and year level the students started to engage in alcoholism? 4. What influenced the students in engaging to alcoholism? 5. What liquor advertisements captivate the attention of the high school students? 6. Is there an effect of liquor advertisements on teenagers early engagement in alcoholism?

Significance of Study The output of the study will benefit the following individuals and entities:

The Students of Ireneo L. Santiago National High School The data of the study will provide information or awaken the students about the factors that influenced them in their early engagement on alcoholism. This study will also help inform them regarding the effects of liquor in the body especially if they started using it at a very young age.

NDDU Nursing Department as a member of a healthcare-delivery team This study will serve as a tool in working collaboratively with other health practitioners to help determine the factors that influence teenagers early engagement in alcoholism. The data of the study will also serve as a baseline information in designing or developing new interventions or programs in preventing alcohol use and abuse among teenagers.

General Santos City The data of the study will help General Santos City community know the effects of exposing teenagers to different liquor advertisements. With this, parents or guardians will also become aware and will now monitor and supervise their children to avoid them from engaging in this kind of activity at a very young age. With this data, the local government can now be awaken of the increasing number of teenagers who are engaging in alcohol use and abuse. City officials can now develop interventions or programs, laws or policies that would help regulate selling of liquors among teenagers and their exposure to the different and increasing number of liquor advertisements and products.

Philippines The data of the study will help awaken the government about the real situation and the effects of different liquor advertisements to the youth. With this, government officials will now make a move to strictly control or regulate liquor products that influenced teenagers early engagement in this activity.

Alcohol use and abuse affects the community as a whole, the data of the study will help the government realize that laws and regulations about alcohol use and abuse must be strengthen and be stricter in concern with the hours of sale, number of retail outlets, reducing advertising of this products and other factors affecting alcohol availability.

Scope and Delimitation The researchers decided that 20% of the total population of the students of Ireneo L. Santiago National High School will be used as correspondents in conducting the survey, 50% from 4th year and 3rd students, 20% from 2nd year and 10% from 1st year. This study limits its coverage on the high school students only. Its main purpose is to identify and determine how liquor advertisements affect teenagers early engagement in alcohol use and abuse. This study considers every aspect of students personal information. A survey will be conducted to determine if what age they started to drink alcohol and what factors influenced them the most. Each of the respondents is given same questionnaires to answer. This study focuses on the current high school students of the present school year, 2011-2012.

Definition of Terms Some terms that were used in this study were technical in nature and needs to be defined either operationally or conceptually. For the purpose of clarification, the researchers have enumerated them in this section and provided them with definition.

Teenager Conceptually, teenager is a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity from the age of thirteen to nineteen. In this study, this refers to high school students of Ireneo L. Santiago National High School that will serve as the correspondents of the study.

Liquor Conceptually, liquor is a distilled or spirituous beverage which is alcoholic. In this study, this refers to an alcoholic substance that is usually used and abused by teenagers.

Advertisements Conceptually, advertisements refers to a notice, such as a poster or a paid announcement in the print, broadcast, or electronic media, designed to attract public attention or patronage. In this study, this refers to a product of mass media designed to captivate the attention of the community specially the teenagers.

Alcoholism Conceptually, alcoholism is an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic substances or liquors or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. In this study, this refers to the act of using or abusing liquors by the teenagers.