Trying to stop teenagers from enjoying a beer or two is virtually impossible, but a new study shows that if your teen girl is drinking excessively, she could be setting herself up for a lifetime of problems.

According to a study published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, teen girls are more likely than their male counterparts to see serious harm from their binge drinking habits. The researchers studied 27 binge-drinking males and 13 females, and discovered that girls' more developed brains may be to blame for the disparity.

"Using MRI scans, the study team found that female teenage heavy drinkers had less brain activation in several brain regions than female non-drinking teens when doing the same spatial task," reports the BBC. "They suggested that this could cause problems when driving, playing sports involving complex moves, using a map or remembering how to get somewhere."

So what can parents do to keep their teens from hitting the bottles too hard? Unfortunately, it's not possible for parents to monitor everything that their teens do, but it is important to make sure kids understand how their behavior could affect their cognitive function.

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