Teen Drug Help
Negative Parental Expectations Encourage Misbehavior in Teens
A new study indicates that teens are more likely to conform to negative stereotypes when their parents expect them to do so.
The study, conducted by professor of psychology Christy Buchanan of Wake Forest University and co-authored by Johna Hughes of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, included more than 250 adolescents and their mothers. The adolescents were surveyed in sixth or seventh grade and then again a year later.
Buchanan commented on the implications of the study: "Parents who believe they are simply being realistic might actually contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Negative expectations on the part of both parents and children predict more negative behaviors later on. Higher expectations for risk-taking and rebelliousness predict higher levels of problem behavior, even controlling for many other predictors of such behavior."
Buchanan believes that parents who expect their children to become rebellious when they become teenagers may be making a significant mistake. Parents' assumptions that their kids will act a certain way may communicate to their children that something is wrong if the children don't act that way:
"Sometimes parents expect more negative behavior from their own adolescents than they should, based on the adolescent's history of behavior. By thinking risk-taking or rebelliousness is normal for teenagers and conveying that to their children, parents might add to other messages from society that make teenagers feel abnormal if they are not willing to take risks or break laws. This can mean, for example, that when parents expect teens to drink before they turn 21 or to engage in other risky behaviors, kids are less likely to resist societal pressures to do so."
(Source: sciencedaily.com)
Labels: behaviors, parents, teen risk taking
Project Shows Teens 'Your Face on Meth'
Mendocino County, Calif., is launching a new anti-meth project that uses image-altering software to show teens what their faces might look like after prolonged use of the drug.
The Face2Face project is being spearheaded by Sheriff Tom Allman. Using the software, Allman is able to show kids what they might look like three months, six months, a year and even three years into a methamphetamine habit.
Allman commented on the effectiveness of his method: "You're young. You're vibrant. You have great-looking skin. Your hair is there, your teeth are there. The software ... morphs it into causing the physiological effects that meth causes -- the open scabs, the droopy skin, the hair loss. It strikes at the vanity of teenagers. Some kids start crying when they see the devastating effect meth can do to their complexion. It was the way to crack the nut -- to say, 'This could happen to you.'"
The addiction rate after first-time use of methamphetamines is extremely high -- around 90 percent, Allman claims. Thus, Allman's goal is to prevent first-time use.
(Source: www.npr.org)
Labels: meth, teen drug use
Teen Drinking May Lead to Irreversible Brain Damage
A recent study led by a University of California, San Diego neuroscientist suggests that teen drinking may lead to irreversible brain damage.
Susan Tapert and colleagues compared the brain scans of teens who drink heavily with the scans of teens who don't. They found that teens who drink heavily sustain damage to brain nerve tissue, which negatively affects attention span in boys and the ability to comprehend and interpret visual information in girls.
Tapert commented on the findings: "First of all, the adolescent brain is still undergoing several maturational processes that render it more vulnerable to some of the effects of substances.
"For girls who had been engaging in heavy drinking during adolescence, it looks like they're performing more poorly on tests of spatial functioning, which links to mathematics, engineering kinds of functions.
"For boys who engaged in binge drinking during adolescence, we see poor performance on tests of attention -- so being able to focus on something that might be somewhat boring, for a sustained period of time."
For the study, the researchers looked at 12- to 14-year-olds before they used drugs or alcohol. Over time, some of the teens began drinking, a few rather heavily. Tapert's team compared those who began drinking with those who did not, and found that the binge drinkers performed significantly worse on cognitive tests.
Tapert explains that the result actually surprised her: "These results were actually surprising to me because the binge drinking kids hadn't, in fact, engaged in a great deal of binge drinking. They were drinking on average once or twice a month, but when they did drink, it was to a relatively high quantity of at least four or five drinks an occasion."
(Source: www.wbur.org)
Labels: binge drinking, brain damage, teen drinking
Drinking Among Young Teens Declining in England, But Still a Concern
Recent data from England's National Health Service (NHS) suggest that drinking among young teens is on the decline, and that English teens are generally less likely to abuse substances than their counterparts worldwide. However, experts warn that continued vigilance against underage drinking is needed.
According to the data, which included school surveys from over 8,000 children over three years, young teens in the Northeast reported drinking the most (about six pints of strong beer or two bottles of wine) per week, while young teens in London reported consuming about two-thirds that amount. Overall, the data suggest that the total number of youth regularly consuming alcohol is declining.
Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, commented on the reported levels of drinking: "Regular consumption at these levels, especially when compressed into heavy sessions at the weekend puts boys and girls at considerable risk. This extends beyond the usual considerations around accidents and injury through violence. At this age the adolescent mind is still developing, and for an unlucky minority heavy drinking so early will have profound and long lasting implications for their learning and problem solving skills."
(Source: www.timesonline.co.uk)
Labels: teen drinking, teen substance abuse, underage-drinking
Alcohol Outlets in a Neighborhood Influence Alcohol-Related Problems Among Youth
A new study that will be appearing in the March 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, indicates that a neighborhood's alcohol environment plays a role in regulating the risks that youth and young adults will be exposed to.
Researchers have discovered that the pattern of alcohol-related injuries among underage youth and young adults is not random. Rather, it is shaped by the density and type of alcohol outlets that exist in the neighborhood. These injuries include accidents, automobile crashes and assaults. For the study, researchers obtained non-public hospital discharge data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development on underage youth (18- to 20-year-olds) and young adult (21- to 29-year-olds).
Paul J. Gruenewald, senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center and corresponding author for the study, commented on the study's findings: "Over the past four decades, public health researchers have come to recognize that although most drinkers safely purchase and enjoy alcohol from alcohol outlets, these places are also associated with serious alcohol-related problems among young people and adults."
Richard Scribner, D'Angelo Professor of Alcohol Research at the LSU School of Public Health, added: "In the early studies, researchers believed associations were due to increased alcohol consumption related to higher alcohol outlet densities.
"However, as the research area has matured, the relations appear to be far more complex. It seems that alcohol outlets represent an important social institution within a neighborhood. As a result, their effects are not limited to merely the consequences of the sale of alcohol."
(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)
Labels: alcohol, teen drinking
