Social Hosting is when a parent(s) decide to host a party and provide alcohol for their child and other teens. Many parents host these parties and take the attending teens’ keys (which in many cases the teens get their keys back anyway), this way the teens can drink “safely”. So does the parents presence or “supervision” really make underage drinking safe and okay? The answer is NO.
Social Hosting actually puts the child in more danger, now that alcohol is readily available to the youth. Studies have shown that youth who drink before the age of 15 are 12 times more likely to be unintentionally injured while under the influence of alcohol, and seven times more likely to be in a motor vehicle crash after drinking. It has also been observed that those who drink while underage are more likely to become alcoholics in adulthood.
Since Social Hosting makes alcohol readily available to youth, it also increases their rate of alcohol-related injury, and potentially turn them into alcoholics. So given the facts, does it really seem that Social Hosting helps solve the problems that underage drinking can cause?
