Camila Bustamante

Science Period 6 / Math Period 7

Underage Drinking vs. Academic Progress
Lab Report

Aim/Research Question: My aim for this lab was to determine how students
alcohol consumption could affect an individuals academic life. We plan on finding this
by figuring out how many students at FDR consume alcohol and compare that to the
grades they get.

How does underage drinking affect an individuals academic life?

Hypothesis: If someone begins to consume alcohol at a young age, then their grades
would decrease because this substance goes straight to the brain, and the brain is still
developing all the way until ones twenties, so alcohol can cause great damage.

Justification of hypothesis: Underage drinking is something that we see every day,
and too much of it can significantly damage ones neurons in the brain. Through a
survey I will gather all the information needed to justify if this educated guess states the
truth.

Background Information:
Underage drinking is known as the term for anyone who begins drinking under the
legal age in his or her country (PE: 18, US: 21). Although adults might drink more often
than young people, young people tend to drink a much larger quantity.

Binge drinking means to drink a lot within a couple of hours, and your blood alcohol
concentration increases. For women it occurs after around 4 drinks, and for men, like 5
drinks. This type of drinking can cause safety and health risks, some being car accidents
or injuries. As time passes by, it could lead to liver or other organ damages. Underage
drinking can have many risks, such as death, serious injuries, impaired judgment, and
brain development problems. Many drinkers have experienced blackouts and total
memory loss, which usually happens after binge drinking, and this is very harmful for
the brain.

It has been proven by science that the brain isnt 100% developed until around the
age of 20, and alcohol tends to interrupt this development. Consuming alcohol can have
an immediate effect on the brain with things such as: difficulty when walking, blurred
eyesight, slurry speech, slow reactions, and impaired memory. These immediate effects
alcohol has on people most times tend to last no longer than a night.

When people begin drinking over a somewhat long time period, some brain deficits
begin to appear, because its not fully developed if the drinking is done too early. There
are factors that define to what extent alcohol affects the brain:

-Amount and how often she/he drinks,
-How long they have been drinking,
-Their age when they began to drink
-Their current age
-Level of education
-Gender
-Family history of alcoholism
-His/her general health status

Alcohol consuming varies the level of neurotransmitters, which are chemical
messengers that take charge in spreading all the signals within the body that control all
the thinking in the brain. Neurotransmitters can either increase or decrease how active
the brain is, and alcohol quickens the effects of the neurotransmitters gamma-amino
butyric acid (GABA) in the brain.

Alcohol prevents the excitatory neurotransmitter, which is glutamate, which results in a
physiological slowdown. It can also increase the amount of chemical dopamine in the
reward center of the brain, which creates the feeling of pleasure when taking a drink.
Consuming alcohol may affect different parts of the brain in different manners:

-Cerebral cortex: where the thinking is done, and alcohol depresses the behavioral
inhibitory centers, which makes the person less self-conscious, and the information
processing from the eyes, ears, mouth, touch, and other senses, way slower. When this
part is affected, one has less ability to think clearly.

-Cerebellum: this is the center of movement and balance, which is what causes the
person to walk all weird and fall down when they are under the influence of alcohol.

-Hypothalamus and pituitary: are in charge of managing the automatic brain functions,
which affects the nerve centers that control sexual desires, but even though this
increases the urge, the sexual performance actually reduces.

-Medulla: Handles the breathing, consciousness, and body temperature. When acting on
this part of the brain, it brings sleepiness, can slow your breath, and lower body
temperature, which has terrible risks.

Alcohol varies the brains membranes, ion channels, enzymes, and receptors. It also
goes directly to the receptors for acetylcholine, serotonin, GABA, and NMDA receptors
for glutamate. The GABA effect tends to reduce neural activity by allowing chloride ions
to enter the post-synaptic neuron. With these ions negative electrical charge, the
neurons are less excitable.


Variables:

Variable Unit How will it be measured?
Independent Alcohol Amount of
alcohol
consumption
Data I collect through survey (ages
13-17)

Dependent Grades


Grades from
the first
semester
Data I collect through survey (ages
13-17)

Control 1. Questions on
survey
2. Participants
3. Graphs
- 1. Google-form
2. 13-17 year-olds (through
Facebook)
3. Excel, Autograph, Word


Materials:
1. Mac computer
2. FDR internet server
3. Google docs account
4. Facebook group (to post survey)
5. Websites about underage drinking and brain damages
6. Microsoft Office programs
7. Autograph
8. 5 survey questions related to purpose

Procedure (sending out survey):














Method:
1. Survey was created with these five necessary questions on Google docs, using
the Google forms function.
2. Survey was personally sent around through Facebook to many different people
from different grades (for variety in the results).
3. By the end of that day, 30 people had replied the survey.
4. The raw data was compiled and frequency tables were made for each question
for it to be an organized data set.
5. For the quantitative/numerical data, charts were first made to show the mean,
median, mode, range, IQR, Q1, Q3, and standard deviation to show my work.
6. Then, 5 graphs were made to represent each of the questions asked, and to
follow what we were told to do, one box and whisker plot, one histogram, and
one bar graph were included, along with two pie charts for other questions.
7. An overall look at these graphs would either justify or prove my hypothesis
wrong after analyzing them.

Raw Data:












Data Sets:
How old are you?
This was a required question because in order for the results to be accurate, the participants age
should always be known. Most participants are from our grade (15-year-olds), but there is still some
variety.
Age Frequency
13 3
14 5
15 16
16 3
17 3
*Quantitative discrete variable*

Have you ever consumed alcoholic beverages?
This is one of the most important questions because before comparing with the grades, we need to
know how many participants drink or not, and it looks like the great majority do.
Alcohol consumption Frequency
Yes 24
No 6
*Categorical variable*

How many times a month do you consume alcohol?
Frequency of their alcohol consumption is essential because someone who drinks once a year could
have their neurons way less affected than those who drink on a weekly basis. Most consume alcohol 4
times a month, which is around once a week.
Rate of alcohol consumption
per month
Frequency
10 times 1
8 times 3
4 times 8
2 times 6
1 times 5
0 times 7
*Quantitative discrete variable*

For how long have you been consuming alcoholic beverages?
The results could change if this question wasnt asked because like mentioned above, a brain that has recently been
introduced to alcohol in their system will be a healthier one than the brain of someone who drinks since more than a
year ago.
Time consuming alcohol Frequency
A couple of months 8
For the past year 9
More than a year 7
Never 6
*Categorical variable*

What was your Semester 1 G.P.A?
This question pretty much defines the data, and after being organized, will be responsible in supporting my
hypothesis or not. There is a great variety in the semester 1 averages, but with the organized data we will identify the
correlation.
GPA Frequency
4.0 1
4.4 1
4.7 1
4.8 3
4.9 2
5.0 1
5.1 2
5.2 1
5.4 1
5.5 1
5.6 1
5.7 2
5.8 2
5.9 2
6.0 1
6.2 1
6.3 2
6.4 1
6.7 3
6.8 1
*Quantitative continuous variable*
Graphs/Data Calculations:
How old are you?
Numerical Data


Thirteen
10%
Fourteen
17%
Fifteen
53%
Sixteen
10%
Seventeen
10%
Survey Participants Age
Data 13,13,13,14,14,14,14,14,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,
15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,16,16,16,17,17,17
Mean 14.9
Median 15
Mode 15
Range 4
Upper quartile 15
Lower quartile 14
Interquartile range 1
Standard deviation 1.03


Have you ever consumed alcoholic beverages?


Categorical Data



Yes
80%
No
20%
Amount of people who consume
alcohol
How many times a month do you consume alcohol?

Rate of Alcohol Consumption per month
Numerical Data



Data 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,8,8,8,10
Mean 2.76
Median 2
Mode 4
Range 10
Upper quartile 4
Lower quartile 1
Interquartile range 3
Standard deviation 2.7
For how long have you been consuming alcoholic beverages?


Categorical Data
What is your current GPA?

Semester 1 GPAs
Numerical Data
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
A couple of
months
For the last
year
For more than
a year
Never
Amount of Students

Data 4.0, 4.4, 4.7, 4.8, 4.8, 4.8, 4.9, 4.9, 5.0, 5.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6,
5.7, 5.7, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9, 5.9, 6.0, 6.2, 6.3, 6.3, 6.4, 6.7, 6.7, 6.7, 6.8
Mean 5.57
Median 5.65
Mode Bimodal: 4.8, 6.7
Range 2.8
Upper quartile 6.2
Lower quartile 4.9
Interquartile range 1.3
Standard deviation .735


Conclusion:
My hypothesis stated that:
If someone begins to consume alcohol at a young age, then their grades would decrease
because this substance goes straight to the brain, and the brain is still developing all the way until
ones twenties, so alcohol can cause great damage.

After receiving 30 responses in my survey, I thoroughly analyzed each one and realized
that each question had to be well thought out before coming to a conclusion and see if my hypothesis
was supported or not because they were all pretty different from one another.

Question #1 proves the data to be a bit biased, in a way because as you can see, 53% of
the surveys participants are 15-year-olds, which might have the same way of behaving with alcohol
consumption. I luckily got at least 3 answers per age which I didnt think I would get because most
older people wouldnt have an interest in this topic to reply. I mainly believe most replies were from
our grade because since its something we are all doing, then they show much more interest.

As for question #2, to my surprise, 80% of the participants have consumed alcoholic
beverages, even some of the 13-year-olds. This question was a simple yes/no question, but by the
results, I can assume that the great majority of students at FDR that are around their teenage years,
already do or have tried alcohol underage.

Question #3 was how many times a month they consumed alcohol, if they did so on a
regular basis. The importance of this question was big because it is obvious that someone who drinks
once a year will have his or her neurons less affected than he who drinks every week. The majority said
to consume alcohol around 4 times a month, or once a week, but it was a close tie because for
example, 7 people said to not drink at all, 6 said to drink twice a month, 5 would drink only once, so it
was a bit hard to tell. Something that appeared curious to me was how in this question, seven people
said they drank 0 times per month, but in the previous question, six said they had never drank. This
means that only one person out of all the 80% who have consumed alcohol (even just tried) doesnt do
it on a regular basis while the others do.

If one must know how often alcohol is consumed, it is also necessary to know for how
long they have been doing it, because a brain is healthier if it has been introduced to alcohol recently.
On question #4, this categorical variable also had very close results, but a majority 9/30 people have
been consuming alcohol for the past year. The responses are all very close and there is no pattern seen
to prove anything on the bar graph either.

The final table, question #5 was the quantitative continuous variable of what the
students GPA was, and these results were the most important because they could define my data,
so to speak. Once again, no pattern was identified with these results, because all the grades were
pretty different, and even though a great amount of students who have alcohol in their brains have a
low GPA, there are also many students who drink a lot, but have a very high score.

All in all, the data hasnt succeeded in proving my hypothesis correct, but it hasnt done so the
other way around either. After carefully analyzing each graph and table, there was no correlation
identified within the data. My survey might have not proven my hypothesis correct, but research states
how alcohol affects the brains neurons destructively when there is too much of it. The hypothesis
itself is correct, but my guess is that since most of the surveys participants are teenagers that have
been drinking for this past year, then the effect hasnt really got to them yet, because it is scientifically
proven that this damage occurs.

Evaluation:
The method I used to perform this experiment and try to determine whether alcohol
lowers students grades or not, happened to work very effectively. My three control variables, which
were: survey questions, participants, and graphs, were controlled throughout all moments correctly,
thus they didnt affect my data at all, making it reliable. The sample size I took to perform the survey
in my opinion is a very good amount, because with too much information the data becomes too
overwhelming, but with fewer responses the data wont be as accurate. I believe 30 responses was
the perfect amount of people to pick as a sample size.

The reason in which the results showed no correlation and didnt prove anything about
the hypothesis wasnt because of any errors made throughout the method, but because the
audience age wasnt picked effectively. There wasnt any other choice though, because we had to
focus on students mainly since that was our chosen audience to see how their grades were affected.
Other than this, I believe as an individual I didnt show any of the weaknesses and performed the
method in a very efficient manner.

Discussion:
Since there was no pattern or correlation identified, and the purpose question wasnt
answered in any way, the only way to answer it would be by performing further research about the
topic, but to focus this research specifically on how alcohol affects the teenage brain, rather than the
human brain in general, now that the teenage brain isnt officially developed until ones twenties. By
researching this topic I believe that much more accurate results would appear, that could show a
possible correlation.
One World Section:
What research and science have discovered is that underage drinking tends to be less
controlled than when youre an adult, which is addressed as binge drinking. They found out by
sending out surveys that people who begin drinking before 15, have a much greater possibility of
have alcohol use disorders than those who begin drinking at 21. Scientists have proved that this
alcohol consumption are considered disorders, and have continuous consequences throughout ones
life span that could cause damage.
Since this time my survey was conducted only for FDR students who were in their teenage
years, I only had the chance to analyze how our communitys grades are affected by alcohol
consumption. If this survey was expanded to other schools around Peru, a broader picture could be
seen and there could be many comparisons made within all the schools that have participated in the
survey. This could also lead to another idea of how different schools educate differently and how this
relates to the possible fact of them consuming alcohol or not.
Science has addressed the topic of underage drinking a lot, with it being a problem we all see
in our everyday lives, but there hasnt actually been something done to stop it. No matter how much
research they send out to the world, all they can do to prevent underage drinking is showing their
research, and make the consequences worldwide for those teenagers to see. It doesnt depend on
Science if people drink or not, but they can definitely help and have a huge impact on people who
learn about this topic.
My only recommendation for the World Health Organization about this topic is to discover
new consequences, because no matter how many consequences we know about today, many people
still continue drinking before adulthood. If new consequences were discovered, I believe this would
alarm most teenagers and make them think twice before drinking.
This health related issue could interact morally because underage drinking is something that
we, since little kids, are told not to do because it isnt right. Since it isnt something that most
teenagers have permission to do by adults, it is a moral issue because the teenagers know its wrong,
but do it anyway. It is also something social, because something has to make you start drinking, and
in the great majority of the cases, this cause is society. Since everyone does it and for most people it
seems like they have more fun this way, it becomes to seem like something normal, when it really
isnt.

Bibliography:
"Alcohol's Damaging Effects on the Brain." National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism. National Institute of Health, n.d. Web. 4 June 2014.
<http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa63/aa63.htm>.
"How Alcoholism Works." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, n.d. Web. 4 June 2014.
<http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-
brain/alcoholism5.htm>.
"How Drugs Affect Neurotransmitters." The Brain from Top to Bottom. McGill University,
n.d. Web. 4 June 2014.
<http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_alcool.
html>.
"Underage Drinking." National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. National
Institutes of Health, n.d. Web. 4 June 2014. <http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-
health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/underage-drinking>.
"Understanding Underage Drinking." National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
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<http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/factsheet.htm>.