Social Issues

There are many social problems that teenagers go through. The most recognised problems are
teenage drinking and driving, and teen suicide.

These two social behaviours teenagers go through are the leading causes of teenage death. Alcohol,
the most widely used and abused drug among youth, causes serious and potentially life-threatening
problems for this population.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers. Society faces several questions,
like why do teens drink, what are the results of teen drinking and driving, and how can society change
this pattern. Every year hundreds of teens die. Apart from drinking and driving, teen suicide is the
fastest growing killer of youth and if left unaddressed it will affect are future generations.

Why do teenagers drink alcohol? Peers play the major role in shaping attitudes about alcohol use.
Prior to this time, television and movies played the most influential role. The attitudes of parents
toward alcohol correlated strongly with the attitudes of their children.

There are several reasons why teenagers give to drinking alcohol which include recreation, rebellion,
relieve depression, fatigue, and boredom. Many of them have personal problems at home that make
them turn to alcohol. Other reasons are a loved one passing away, fighting with parents, divorce, and
separation of family.

The main factor of teenage drinking is influence from their peers. Teenagers in our society are
pressured into trying out alcohol for the first time to see how it tastes like. If they give in to their
peers, they become part of the group, but if they do not they are not accepted into the group.

As a result of teens being under the influence of alcohol, they are not aware that once they get behind
the wheel they are risking their lives and the lives of other innocent people on the road. Teenagers
think it’s cool to drink and drive. They feel nothing will happen to them.

A survey concluded, males having higher rates of daily drinking and binge drinking than females, but
these differences are diminishing. In foreign countries, while white students report the highest levels
of drinking, the causes that lead them to automobile accidents are driver inexperience, driving late at
night, having consumed alcohol, speeding, youthful risk, and driving during emotional stress. Many
programmes are being offered to educate teenagers and people on how to prevent alcohol-related
accidents.

Education can help teens become aware of the consequences of drinking and driving. Yet effective
ways of dealing with teen drinking and driving are formal treatment. Teens can be taken to visit a
Rehabilitation center, which is a process of putting the treatment plan into action.

It consist of education, Group therapy, life story, individual therapy, peer assessment, recreational
therapy, coping skills and relaxation therapy, support group attendance, and spiritually.

India is one of six communities across the nation to participate in the Rapid Responses Team Pilot
Project, which is designed to study whether a team of experts can work with community members to
develop effective ways of reducing underage drinking.

The teams are comprised of one expert from each of the following profession: law enforcement,
education, prevention, public policy, and strategic planning.

Every year thousands of teens die in the United States, not from cancer or car accidents, but by their
own hand; they make the choice that they want to die, and they take their life. Suicide is the fastest
growing killer of youth and if left unaddressed, it will help bring about disastrous consequences.
Statistics show that more than 13 of every 1000,000 teenager took their life in 1998 in the US, and
that number is rising every year.

In fact suicide kills teens 3 to 6 times more than homicide. Although suicide rates over the past 40
years are relatively stable, the incidence of suicide among 15-24 years olds has tripled, while the rate
among 15-19 year olds has quadrupled.

The numbers of deaths by teen suicide are rising quickly, and it must be stopped. Why is it? Those
teenagers are committing suicide? There are many factors which lead teenagers today to take their
own life.

There is the social environmental factor, which suggests that the greater access to firearms has
caused a rise in the death of teens. Teenagers can easily kill themselves with such deadly weapons as
guns.

Suicide is genetically influenced. It may be the result of an underlying personality or predisposition to

mental illness that is inherited. One other cause is the imitative thinking of our youth. The two major
causes of teen suicide are the homophobic sentiments of the people and struggles within the family
unit.

Struggles and problems within the family are also a big factor of teen suicide. Youngsters who commit
suicide are somewhat more likely to come from a broken home than are youngsters of the same
ethnic group but about half lived with both biological parents at the time of the death.

The absence of a strong relationship to parent-child friction and a significant excess of poor parent-
child communication also lead to teen suicide.

What can be done to cripple the rise in teen suicide? According to the National Strategy for Prevention
of Suicide of the US, there are three steps in the fight against the problem access, illumination, and
methodology.

They suggest that access to services and programmes dealing with the issue must be enhanced, the
public’s awareness be broadened or illuminated, and the scientific approach to the problem be
continued. The problem is still not being addressed as it should be. Many teenagers are still dying.

In US, at least, the government has now recognised that teen suicide is a national problem and
measures for it are now in the works. Teen suicide is a grave national problem indeed. It has taken
the lives of many youth already.

In conclusion, society is coming to understand that there is a major social problem with teenagers
drinking and driving and teen suicide. In regards to teens drinking and driving, society can change the
behaviour of teenagers who drink and drive by using community involvement and educating our youth
about dire consequences of drinking and driving.

We must look towards igniting and mobilising the passion, energy, imagination, and idealism of our
youth to make a real difference. It is our role and responsibility to become involved in our youth
because they are our future.

2) RESPECTING the community we live in means a responsibility to stem the rise of social issues resulting from alcoholism. I
don’t think only Muslims and Malays acknowledge and uphold this.
I refer to the letter “Respect the community we live in” by
Tan Sri M. Kayveas (NST, Sept 30).
Notwithstanding the social ills that take root in our community, we choose to close our eyes and let them aggravate without
reining in any negative influences detrimental to our younger generation.
Like drugs, alcohol is prone to abuse and often becomes a gateway to other illicit substances, such as ecstasy or heroin. Not
having a beer festival because of a fear of terrorist attacks is one thing, but we should fear more the attack of alcohol abuse on the
mental health of our future leaders.
Ironically, many of us express outrage over child abuse by alcoholic parents or a young innocent girl being gang-raped after a
booze party.
Is this the best reaction we can give?

Despite being cognisant of the intolerable damage alcohol abuse brings, we accuse the authorities of infringing on non-Muslims’
rights.

Maybe some feel these tragic events only happen to others while our lives go on la dolce vita. Imagine if we were to change “The
Better Beer Festival” to “The Better Drugs Festival”, I believe our community, irrespective of race and religion, will be fighting
against it, no matter how great the advertisement.

Regardless of holding the event in public or private spaces with security measures, there is always a risk of someone
circumventing the regulations in place. In other words, can we really trust them not to defy the law?

Let us go beyond Malaysia’s multiracial background and take a look at the United Kingdom. According to a report conducted by
the University of Sheffield’s Alcohol Research Group, alcohol consumption, over the next five years, will cause 63,000 deaths
due to heavy drinking.

These alcoholics are believed to have succumbed to painful and emotionally harrowing liver disease. This will cost the National
Health Service RM93.07 billion. The price is this: disease, death and health costs.

The warning of a terrorist attack echoes that of the Oktoberfest bombing on Sept 26, 1980, in Germany, with a right-wing radical
killing 13 people and injuring 219, many losing limbs.

The attack was attributed to a right-wing extremist student, Gundolf Köhler, who placed an explosive device at the site of the
festival.

Of course, there has been no such untoward incident in our country. However, we cannot deny the fact that terrorist attacks have
happened elsewhere in Southeast Asia and can happen here.

The banning of the Better Beer Festival 2017 by the authorities is the right thing to do and not about showing disrespect for the
community we live in.

Love it or hate it, social problems will not only beset non-Muslims and non-Malays; they affect everyone. Live well, and, as the
saying goes, prevention is better than cure.

Abang Affendi
Kuala Lumpur

Facebook, Self-Esteem and Loneliness – Essay Example

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Nowadays, teenagers have become addicted to numerous social networks and cannot live a day without
getting online. This, of course, influences the formation of their individuality. Every one of Facebook users
develops certain feelings and personal traits while using the website. The two most related qualities are
self-esteem and loneliness.
Facebook, self-esteem and loneliness is a study by Sina Haghiri that helped to determine the reasons of
why people are relying so much on the social networks. The study was based on the assumption that
most people, who constantly browse the net are either terribly lonely, or have a very low self-esteem.
Thus, this study focuses on the intensity of Facebook usage by lonely or insecure people. 747
participants took part in the research. If to take all the results into account, it is clear that there is a certain
connection between the number of friends on Facebook and the sense of solitude. As for self-esteem,
there is a slight tendency that people who are insecure, have no true friends in real life, spend much more
time in the social networks trying to make up for the communication they miss in real life.
Unfortunately, not all of the results could be taken into account as some of the participants have not used
their accounts for a long while; some did not understand the questions properly and so on. Therefore,
only 296 results were valid. When only valid results were taken into consideration, no correlation was
found between the use of Facebook and two qualities, such as loneliness and self-esteem. Of course,
communication in the social network and Facebook in particular is different from the one we have in real
life. Some shy people may find it easier to send friend requests to random people on Facebook, than to
reach out to these people in reality. Analysts also suggest that if a person is an extravert in daily life, he or
she will have more friends on Facebook than an introvert. The accounts were evaluated not only by the
number of friends a person has, but also on how they use their page, how many pictures do they have
uploaded, which applications they use. As Facebook and other social networks are rapidly developing,
the correlation between the use of Facebook and people’s traits will be surely investigated further in the
future.

Poverty vs. Teen Delinquency – Essay Sample

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The United States has a total urban population of 82% (Malmgren & Meisel, 2004). The poor who are
living below the poverty line are considered only this when their annual income is less than $18,000 (“US
Census Bureau”, 2005). The statistics of the urban poor in the United States are between 12-13%. These
people are the working poor, and the underclass. Usually, these people rely on government transfers.
These people who are considered below the poverty line have some or no education, deeming them
under qualified for a large number of jobs. Violent crimes have risen throughout the years, and statistics
show that almost 50% of all violent crimes are committed by those under the age of 25, and of all the
arrests made, 15% of these violent crimes are made by those living in the urban poor areas (Malmgren &
Meisel, 2004). 78% of the delinquents arrested are caught in truancy and are said to have no intention of
pursuing education. 30-50% of these delinquents have educational disorders (Malmgren & Meisel, 2004).
Weather vs. Senior Citizen population
The demographics for the senior citizen population of the United States if found concentrated in certain
areas. According to Census Scope (2011), the senior citizen population tends to be higher in Florida as
well as the South West. These are generally warmer areas in the United States. Statistics show that 20.7-
34.7% of the senior citizen population of the United States is seen in warmer areas, as compared to a low
0.0-8.6% in coder areas such as Alaska.

Sexual Harassment Memorandum – Essay Sample

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Sexual harassment is behavior that is dictated by the sexual motive, which is undesirable or offensive to
the object of such behavior. Such behavior may humiliate, cause problems with health and safety.
“Undesirable” is a key word in the definition of sexual harassment. Sexual motive behaviors include the
physical behavior (hugging, touching, patting, assault with intent to rape, etc.) and verbal behavior
(estimates, offers, and other statements that are sexually abusive and threatening or presenting sexual
requests).
In the U.S., attention to the issue of sexual harassment has a relatively short history. In 1964, Congress
passed the Civil Rights Act, which established the illegality of discrimination based on race, religion and
nationality. Ironically, gender discrimination was the last listed in the law. However, this addition had a
positive effect on the approval of the position of women in American society and became the legal basis
for the formation of attitudes toward the phenomenon of sexual harassment. The very notion of sexual
harassment appeared in 1974, during the consideration of the court case on medical assistant, who was
forced to leave work because her boss was harassing her.
Every company should have a sexual harassment memorandum that covers the company’s polices
regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. It should also include the meaning of this notion, brief
explanation of what is it and company’s attitude towards it.
For example, if somebody reports that there were signs of sexual harassment in the office, the manager
would have to conduct the meeting and inform all the workers about company’s policy and that this
behavior needs to stop. It is a difficult task, because the manager would have to be very careful with
names and try not to embarrass or offend anybody and make sure that their work place is a safe
environment for every employee no matter which position he or she occupies.
Nowadays the majority of U.S. companies relates to the problem of sexual harassment very seriously and
takes precautions. For example, new employees have to read a brochure on sexual harassment and sign
it before they start working. In such a way, they show that they understand and support the company’s
policy. A study that was conducted by the American Society for Human Resources in 1999 showed that
62% of U.S. companies have a special training course for staff with a detailed account of all aspects on
sexual harassment.

Social Problems – Essay Sample

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QUESTION ONE
Social problems are the issues that directly or indirectly affect the majority or all the members of a society.
Social problems affect the fabric of the community and they lie beyond the control of one individual no
matter how much the power he or she holds. Some of the social issues that are considered as problems
are violence, pollution, injustice and many others.
For a social issue to be classified as a problem, it must be getting attention from the public. There must
be some public outcry about the issue. The issue must also have a gap between social ideals and social
reality. It must run counter to the values of society at large. It must also get the concern of the majority in
society. The condition that is to be called a problem should have the capability to get a solution through
the collective action of the general public.
It is hard to find solutions or to implement recommendations for many social problems. This is because;
social problems affect a vast majority of the population of the society. These people are all being affected
by the problem in different ways hence each has a different suggestion of the solution to the problem.
Implementation of recommendations is equally as hard since everyone being affected is supposed to take
part and this does not necessarily happen.
QUESTION TWO
Poverty is one of the main social problems in the world. Poverty in the society is the main cause of many
other social problems. It leads to poor education, environmental degradation and a whole lot of other
social problems. According to the structural perspective, society is viewed as a complex system of
structures that interact in order to perform various necessary functions. Change is generally viewed as
gradual and disruptive. In this respect, we can say that poverty occurs due to many different factors that
are unlikely to change easily.
On the other hand, according to the conflict theory, change is inevitable and often beneficial. This theory
views society as a struggle for resources and power and inequality is universal. In this respect, poverty
can be justified as a form of inequality in society. But it can be repaired by changing some factor of the
society.
According to the symbolic iteractionism, humans are social animals and require interaction with one
another. It studies social interactions between individuals and small groups and how humans interpret
these interactions. In this respect, poverty can be eliminated by interaction with the right people in society.
Poverty leads to most social problems in society but can be evaded or corrected with the correct
perspective.
QUESTION FOUR
All social problems affecting the world today are all interrelated in some way or another. Problems with
the environment are almost directly related to poverty and problems with education. The environment is
very sensitive and even the slightest imbalance will cause a great negative impact.
The environment has degraded overtime due to factor such as overpopulation and overuse of the
resources in the environment. An example is the current global warming crisis. It started simply as a
deforestation problem in one area. The trees were being cut down mainly to create room for building
industries and for paper making. As the world progressed into further technology, more trees were cut for
publishing of more books and building of more industries. This shows the interrelationship between
education and environmental problems.
Another angle is the fact that without education, the measures to be taken in the conservation of the
environment cannot be passed on to the general public sufficiently. Poverty also affects the environment.
Take for example a poor family living near a forest and the only fuel they can get is firewood. As much as
they may know of the negative effects of cutting trees, they have no choice but to keep on cutting. This
shows that the three social problems poverty, poor education and environmental problems are
interconnected.