Youth drinking, although declining in recent years, remains a contemporary issue worthy of attention. It must be recognized that this is a problem that concerns society as a whole and not just individuals or small portions of the population. Many researchers have pointed out that it is not just young people with family problems who engage in illegal alcohol consumption, but that it is a problem that affects all socio-economic populations. -economic and ethnic. Therefore, the reasons why children and adolescents succumb to this negative and harmful behavior are worth examining. The objective of this report is to identify the important factors that lead adolescents to consume alcohol. Although progress is being made, underage drinking remains a persistent problem. According to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 9.3 million Americans ages 12 to 20 report currently using alcohol. The National Research Council reports that a significant number of young people aged 12 to 14 consume alcohol. Although adolescents who drink generally do not do so as often as adults, they tend to drink more excessively (Bonnie and O'Connel, 52). The small percentage of young people who drink heavily consume the vast majority of alcohol consumed by underage drinkers. One of the factors that may contribute to the problem of underage drinking is the accessibility of alcohol. It is relatively easy for minors to obtain alcohol, and the percentage of those who can obtain it without much difficulty increases considerably with age. Nearly 90 percent of twelfth graders believe they have easy access to alcohol (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, and Schulenberg). So, by the senior year of high school, it no longer looks like forbidden fruit, it's almost middle of paper...... American College Health, 43(3), 99-113. Print Steinberg, L. and Cauffman, E. (2000). “(Im)maturity of judgment in adolescence: psychosocial factors in adolescent decision-making.” Behavioral Sciences and Law 18, 741-760. PDF file. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Results of the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Results, NSDUH Series H-46, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 13-4795. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2013. Zucker, RA; Wong, MM; Putter, L.I.; and Fitzgerald, HE Resilience and vulnerability in sons of alcoholics: Relationship to developmental outcomes between infancy and adolescence. In: Luthar, SS, ed. Resilience and vulnerability: adaptation in the context of childhood adversity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. pp... 76–103.