Teen Drug Help
Teens Who Drink with Parents Still at Risk for Alcohol Problems, Study Says
Parents who allow their teens to drink with them as a way to teach responsible drinking behavior may be doing more harm than good, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
The study, which included 428 Dutch families with two children, found that the more teenagers were allowed to drink at home, the more they drank outside of the home. In addition, teens who drank either with their parents or on their own were at higher risk for developing alcohol-related problems. These problems included difficulty with school work, truancy and fighting.
The findings call into question the practice of allowing teens to drink at home with their parents as a way to teach responsible drinking behaviors. This practice is fairly common in the Netherlands, where the study was conducted. Researchers say, however, that the practice is not supported by scientific evidence.
Dr. Haske van der Vorst, lead researcher on the study, commented: "The idea is generally based on common sense. For example, the thinking is that if parents show good behaviour -- here, modest drinking -- then the child will copy it. Another assumption is that parents can control their child's drinking by drinking with the child.
"If parents want to reduce the risk that their child will become a heavy drinker or problem drinker in adolescence they should try to postpone the age at which their child starts drinking."
(Source: sciencedaily.com)
Labels: parental drinking, teen drinking
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
Alabama Teens See Low Risk in Drug Use
According to the results of the Pride Survey on Student Behavior and Perception, teens believe that the risks associated with drug use are low.
Virginia Guy of the Drug Education Council in Mobile, Ala., says this trend has been developing over the past couple of years: "The last two or three years we've noticed that there has been an increased low perception of risk -- in other words kids aren't perceiving drugs as being very harmful or risky -- and we have some major concerns."
Guy attributes the trend to reduced funding for drug and alcohol education in public schools.
According to the Pride Survey, alcohol and tobacco use by Alabama teens decreased slightly this year over last year. However, use of alcohol and tobacco remains higher among Alabama teens than teens in other states. In addition, marijuana use by Alabama teens is on the rise. The study included survey responses from 280,000 students in grades six through 12 throughout Alabama.
(Source: www.wkrg.com)
Labels: marijuana, teen drinking, teen drug use
Rhode Island Project Harnesses 'Sticker Shock' to Reduce Teen Drinking
A group of Rhode Island volunteers is hoping to reduce teen drinking during the holiday season by harnessing the power of "sticker shock." The group is visiting local retailers of alcoholic beverages to paste brightly colored warning labels on cartons of beer and wine coolers and bottles of liquor.
The four-inch-wide stickers feature the phrase, "Think buying alcohol for someone under 21 is not a big deal? Think again." The stickers also list the state penalties for providing alcohol to minors. These penalties start with a $1,000 fine for a first offense, and continue on to jail time and more significant fines for subsequent incidents.
Mary Lou Serra, coordinator of the local Westerly Substance Abuse Task Force, commented: "The stickers are designed to make people think. The holidays are upon us. It's a great time of the year. But it's also a frightening time since statistics show that the holidays provide a perfect excuse for minors to drink ... [often] adults provide the kids with the alcohol. We want that practice to stop."
The group recently spent about $1,500 for 5,000 stickers.
(Source: www.projo.com)
Labels: alcohol, teen drinking
California Survey Reports Increasing Rates of Teen Drinking, Drug Use
According to the results of the 2009 annual California Healthy Kids Survey, released earlier this week, teen use of and involvement with alcohol and marijuana has been increasing among California youth.
The survey found that 27 percent of ninth graders have been driven in a car by someone who has been drinking, or driven under the influence themselves. This represents an increase of 5 percent since 2005.
The number of high school freshmen who reported being very drunk or getting sick from drinking alcohol increased by 7 percent to 36 since 2005. In addition, 16 percent of seventh graders reported binge drinking, an increase of 6 percent since 2005.
Teens also reported that marijuana use is fairly common. Approximately half of high school juniors reported using marijuana at some time in their lives.
(Source: www.santacruzsentinel.com)
Labels: marijuana, teen drinking, teen drug use
Teen Attitudes toward Smoking Linked to Risk for Substance Abuse
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College recently published a study exploring the specific ways that parents and peers may influence teens to smoke, drink and use marijuana.
The results of the study indicate that teens' attitudes toward smoking influence their use of multiple drugs (smoking, drinking and marijuana), and that the influence is different between boys and girls. For girls, those with friends who were ambivalent or permissive of smoking were at greatest risk for using multiple substances. For boys, the greatest predictor of use of multiple substances was the extent to which they perceived that smoking was prevalent in their peer group.
Dr. Jennifer A. Epstein, lead author and assistant professor of public health in the Division of Prevention and Health Behavior at Weill Cornell, commented on the study's findings: "If a teenager feels smoking is socially acceptable and widely practiced, they are much more likely not only to smoke, but to also drink and possibly use marijuana ... While the differences between how boys and girls are influenced by these social factors are subtle, they could help us develop new gender-specific educational tactics for preventing these behaviors."
(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)
Labels: marijuana, teen drinking, teen smoking, teen substance abuse
Teen Drinking and Parent Acceptance Under Scrutiny in California
After the death in May of a 16-year-old at a party where alcohol was being consumed, teen alcohol consumption in the small northern California communities of Orinda, Lafayette, and Moraga has come under scrutiny. Area experts say that teen drinking, and parental acceptance of it, is fairly commonplace in these small towns. Experts believe that societal acceptance of drinking makes teens believe that it's okay for them to drink as well.
Ralph Cantor, coordinator of drug, alcohol, and violence prevention for the Alameda County Office of Education, commented about alcohol use in American society: "It's integrated into the culture, and so it's totally accepted by the parent/adult community, and so the kids just pick it up."
Ellen Peterson, who worked as a peer counselor at a local high school until 1995 and now heads an alcohol task force for Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda, believes that some parents condone underage drinking and even host parties for youth where alcohol is consumed and drink with their kids. “I think a lot of parents think it's part of being friends with their kids, and they're worried that their kids won't like them if they're not sort of peers."
Local parent, Roni Melmed, also observed this behavior when her kids were growing up. "(Parents) think it's a rite of passage. ... That it's going to happen, we can't be naive to it, and as long as they don't drink and drive, they're kind of OK with that."
(Source: 254)
Labels: ca, teen drinking
Teen Drinking Starting Earlier in South Dakota
According to a local survey, students in Mitchell, South Dakota, are starting to drink at younger ages. The survey, given to local middle school and high school students, indicates that kids as young as 12 and 14 are using alcohol. Karen Allen, a prevention specialist from the Mitchell School District, commented on the findings: "In the Mitchell community, we definitely need to look at the alcohol use of our students. ... It's high - 34 percent of our ninth-graders reported using alcohol in the last 30 days." Among seventh graders, the rate of alcohol use was approximately 20 percent.
The study also found that alcohol use leads to other risky behaviors for some youth. In the past 12 months, 35 percent of students reported riding with a driver who had been drinking; 41 percent of ninth graders reported being at a party within the past year where kids their age were drinking. The survey was developed and administered by the Search Institute of Minneapolis, and was funded through an anti-tobacco grant from the South Dakota State Department of Health.
(Sources: www.mitchellrepublic.com)
Labels: south dakota, teen drinking
Good Relationship with Parents Prevents Teen Drinking
A new study suggests that teenagers who have a strong relationship with their parents tend to start drinking at a later age, which decreases their risk of developing alcohol problems. The findings of the study are appearing in the May issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Past research has shown that the age at which kids start drinking can significantly influence whether they develop problem drinking behaviors.
The study's lead author, Dr. Emmanuel Kuntsche of the Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems in Lausanne, Switzerland, explains the significance of the new findings: "Our work shows that the 'preventive effect' of a later drinking age is likely to be a side effect of a good parent-child relationship. ... In other words, the circumstances in which that first drinks occurs -- and how parents deal with it -- is important."
(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)
Labels: parents, teen drinking
