Christian young people are certainly not immune to the destructive influences of these worldly practices, either. The highest occurrence of alcohol dependence is found in young adults age 25 or younger. Though alcohol dependence is found more in young men, who live alone, alcohol dependence is also high among female adults, who still live with a parent, and who often enable them to continue in their behavior. Drug dependence is high among adult men and women, who still live with a parent. Single parents with children also have fairly high rates of alcohol dependence, probably because there’s little or no accountability to another person. As Christian parents, we should never enable our children to continue in this behavior without suffering the consequences, or the behavior will likely continue and get worse. A little tough love may be in order here. Alcohol and drug dependence are both considerably higher in the unemployed, so Christian parents who have an unemployed child still living with them should not give them discretionary money to support their addiction. We can provide for their basic necessities without supporting their addiction.
Work problems related to alcohol abuse include absenteeism, reduced efficiency and accidents. Problem drinkers take up to four times as much time off work than other employees, resulting in a cost to industry of several hundred million dollars a year. The workplace suffers a large part of the social cost of alcohol abuse through lost production. The total economic cost of alcohol and drug abuse includes substance abuse treatment and prevention costs as well as other healthcare costs, costs associated with reduced job productivity or lost wages, and other costs to society such as crime and social welfare. The government has to deal with most of these costs, with the abusers and their families having to deal with the rest. Churches and shelters often have to help the unemployable alcohol abuser and their families when they loose their jobs. There can also be other occupational problems and alcohol related accidents, including impaired work performance and judgmental skills, along with increased risk and severity of accidents. Accidents remain the most common cause of death in people under 30, and are also a leading cause of injury and ill health. Alcohol is a contributing factor in about a quarter of all accidents. It is a contributing cause in more than half of all fatal car accidents. Almost a third of pedestrians killed in road accidents are above the legal limit for driving and even more have been drinking some alcohol. Social attitudes to drinking are important to actions being taken to bring about a decrease in drunk driving. Alcohol may also be a contributory factor in one third of all domestic accidents. An unknown number of accidents to children happen when the adults responsible for their welfare have been drinking. A high proportion of fire deaths occur as a result of the combination of alcohol, smoking and inflammable materials in furniture, the alcohol both increasing the chance of falling asleep with a lighted cigarette and also impairing the victim's ability to escape once the fire has started. About a third to one half of all drownings are estimated to be alcohol related, rising in the 20-30 age group. Alcohol increases the risk of entering the water, while at the same time reducing the ability of that person to survive a potential drowning.
Alcohol abuse is also a contributing factor in many marital and family problems. At least a third of all divorces cite excessive drinking by one partner as a contributing cause of the marriage break-up. Close to one half of all problems brought to family court in the U. S. involve alcoholism. A third of problem drinkers report marital discord associated with their drinking. When marriage and divorce is concerned, it becomes a spiritual problem as well. Spouses sometimes feel trapped in a marriage, where alcohol abuse is a problem because of their religious and cultural viewpoints. The children placed on child protection registers as having been abused or neglected where alcohol is involved ranges from one third to over one half of them. Children of alcoholic parents have higher rates of health, behavioral and emotional problems. Truancy, poor school performance, anti-social behavior, delinquency, difficulty in forming relationships, and psychiatric problems including depression are just a few. They are also at increased risk of abusing alcohol or other drugs themselves in later life. Christian parents, who have spouses that abuse alcohol, need to be willing to lovingly confront their spouses with the truth of their alcohol problem and seek to get them help before going to divorce court. We should not help them hide their problem, while enabling them to continue in the behavior. The truth is what sets us free.
