Most middle school students don’t drink. But some do, and this can lead to serious troubles.

By drinking too much at any age, people can dig themselves into holes of trouble. Some dig faster than others and have problems more quickly. They can lose friends, fall behind at school or work, cause family tension, harm their health, and bring on money problems , as you can see below.

Hole #1—Losing friends: Friends start pulling back or drifting away. Only friends who are heavy drinkers will remain.

Hole #2—Problems at work or at school: Being late, missing days, not working up to abilities, and putting off responsibilities are just a few of the problems. Falling behind comes first, which can lead to losing a job or failing school.

Hole #3—Tension builds up in the family: Homes with heavy drinkers have less fun and closeness, more arguments, and higher rates of divorce and child abuse.

Hole #4—Fitness and health: Heavy drinking can weaken the heart muscle and contribute to weight gain. It can also cause many other serious, life-threatening health problems, including addiction.

Hole #5—Money problems: Troubles with money grow when too much is spent on alcohol and on paying for problems or poor decisions caused by drinking.

Digging deeper and deeper

Since alcohol can cloud a person’s judgment, heavy drinkers often feel misunderstood, unfairly treated, harassed, or just plain unlucky. As things get worse they may be more likely to drink, and dig their holes even deeper.

Work it out

It’s easy to see why using alcohol as a solution to problems, or a way of trying to cope, is trouble. Drinking should never take the place of talking things through and working out difficulties in other ways.