Study Finds Teens Drug and Alcohol Use Influenced by Parents Behavior
Compared to teens who have not seen their parents drunk, those who have are more than twice as likely to get drunk in a typical month, and three times likelier to use marijuana and smoke cigarettes, according to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIV: Teens and Parents, the 14th annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
The CASA survey found that 51 percent of 17-year olds have seen one or both of their parents drunk and 34 percent of 12- to 17-year olds have seen one or both of their parents drunk.
The study also found that teen drinking behavior is strongly associated with how teens believe their fathers feel about their drinking. Compared to teens who believe their father is against their drinking, teens who believe their father is okay with their drinking are two and a half times likelier to get drunk in a typical month.
The survey found that 5 percent of 12- to 15-year old girls and 9 percent of 12- to 15-year old boys say their fathers are okay with their drinking. Some 13 percent of 16- and 17-year old girls and 20 percent of 16- and 17-year old boys say their fathers are okay with their drinking.
“Some Moms’ and Dads’ behavior and attitudes make them parent enablers—parents who send their 12- to 17-year olds a message that it’s okay to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs like marijuana,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA’s chairman and founder and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. “Teens’ behavior is strongly associated with their parents’ behavior and expectations, so parents who expect their children to drink and use drugs will have children who drink and use drugs.”
This year the CASA survey also took a close look at teen drinking and discovered that 65 percent of 12- to 17-year olds who drink monthly report that they get drunk at least once in a typical month. The survey found that one third of teen drinkers usually drink with the intention to get drunk.
Also according to the study, compared to teens who have never tried alcohol, teens who get drunk monthly are:
• 18 times likelier to have tried marijuana;
• Four times likelier to be able to get marijuana in an hour;
• Almost four times likelier to know someone their age who abuses prescription drugs;
• More than three times likelier to have friends who use marijuana; and
• More than twice as likely to know someone their age who uses meth, ecstasy, or other drugs such as cocaine, heroin or LSD.
QEV Analytics conducted The National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIV: Teens and Parents from March 2 to April 5, 2009 (teens) and March 21 to April 10, 2009 (parents). The firm interviewed at home by telephone a national random sample of 1,000 12- to 17-year olds (509 boys, 491 girls) and 452 of their parents. Sampling error is +/- 3.1 percent for teens and +/- 4.6 percent for parents.
For more information visit www.casacolumbia.org.
Begin Alcohol Education Early
By Karyn Pasch, M.P.H., Ph.D.
April 21, 2008
Alcohol prevention programs instituted by schools and supported by parents are vital to discouraging youth from using alcohol, but we may not be starting these programs soon enough.
My recent research suggests that tweens (adolescents between the ages of eight and 14) should be receiving alcohol prevention programs prior to sixth grade, ideally between the third and fifth grade. While certainly not all children are alcohol users by sixth grade, the study found that one in six children at that age had used alcohol in the past year. Beginning programs earlier would allow for universal anti-alcohol messages that provide support for high-risk students.
Why is this important? There is strong evidence that those who engage in risky behaviors like drinking in childhood are more likely to continue those behaviors into adolescence and adulthood. Early alcohol consumption also predicts other troublesome behavior like drug use and violence. Furthermore, as alcohol use becomes more frequent and accepted, users become less receptive to intervention and may be more likely to continue down a risky path.
Critical factors facing at-risk children include a lack of confidence to refuse alcohol, associations with at-risk peers, low academic achievement, and the failure to neither perceive nor value the negative consequences of alcohol use. Therefore, these issues must be addressed in universal prevention messages to children before the onset of alcohol use.
Why are universal prevention messages important? Children who already use alcohol respond differently to messages about alcohol than those who have never used it. For example, early alcohol users are more likely to be male, engage in violent or delinquent behavior, have friends who use alcohol, and have easy access to alcohol. Surprisingly, alcohol users are likely to be more physically active outside of school, engaging in activities like skateboarding, biking, and athletics. Spending time without parental supervision may produce an environment that promotes drinking. Therefore, messages and curricula that address these socio-environmental, personal, and behavioral risk factors should be integrated into prevention programs.
In addition, interventions should include parental involvement in order to help create opportunities for increased parent-child communication and provide parents with the skills to increase monitoring.
Students should receive developmentally-appropriate messages that not only provide them with the skills to refuse alcohol, but also correct the inaccurate perceptions that drinking is “normal.” Programs should also focus on other developmentally-appropriate messages of the age group, such as academic achievement, appropriate conduct, and pro-social peer relationships.
It is our responsibility, as parents and as educators, to inform our children of the dangers of alcohol before it’s too late.
Keryn Pasch, M.P.H., Ph.D. is a community program specialist in the School of Public Health.
Health Talk & You is an educational service of the University of Minnesota. Advice presented should not take the place of an examination by a health-care professional. For more health-related information, go to http://www.healthtalk.umn.edu/. For comments or questions about Health Talk & You e-mail buss@umn.edu.
How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents
Every parent dreams of a healthy, productive and fulfilling future for their child. However, the sobering truth – and greatest threat to that future -- is that nearly every child in America will be offered drugs or alcohol before graduating high school.
Based on nearly two decades of research at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA*) at Columbia University, and his experience as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, CASA Founder and Chairman Joseph A. Califano, Jr. has written a comprehensive, straightforward, readable and usable guide to keeping kids drug free during their formative pre-teen, teen, and college years.
In HOW TO RAISE A DRUG-FREE KID, Califano expands on CASA’s two most important findings – the child who stays away from drugs, tobacco, and abusing alcohol until age 21 is virtually certain to steer clear of these substances forever, and teens who learn about the risks of drugs from their parents are much less likely to try them. The book also offers advice on many of the most daunting parenting topics, including:
- When and how to talk to your kids about drugs and alcohol.
- How to respond when your kid asks, “Did you ever try drugs?”
- How to know when your child is most at risk.
- How to prepare your teen for the freedoms and perils of college.
Visit the website at StraightDopeforParents.org
*The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University is neither affiliated with, nor sponsored by, the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association (also known as "CASA") or any of its member organizations with the name of "CASA."
http://www.straightdopeforparents.org
Publication Year: 2009
Substance Abuse Prevention Dollars and Cents: A Cost-Benefit
Analysis
This report summarizes existing estimates of the cost of substance abuse and its damaging consequences. These cost estimates are used to evaluate the benefits of prevention in existing cost-benefit analyses and are available for use in new analyses. The estimates reviewed highlight the total annual cost of substance abuse from a number of perspectives including social cost and the direct costs to State government. The social perspective includes everyone's costs and benefits: People who abuse substances, family members, the general public, communities, and all level of government (Federal, State, and local).
This report is currently only available online at: http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/prevline/pdfs/SMA07-4298.pdf
Reports and Surveys
· Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking [PDF - 1MB]
· A Guide to Action for Communities [PDF - 974KB]
· A Guide to Action for Educators [PDF - 1.08MB]
· A Guide to Action for Families [PDF - 900KB]
· Trends in Underage Drinking in the United States, 1991-2003 - Surveillance Report #74 [pdf] -- Presents trends in underage drinking by youth ages 12-20 years. This is the first issue of a new surveillance report on underage drinking. Data were obtained from three separate sources, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the Monitoring the Future survey, and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The report presents trends for prevalence of alcohol consumption, drinking patterns, alcohol-related attitudes, and alcohol-related risk behaviors.
· Underage Drinking - Alcohol Alert No. 67 -- This bulletin for health professionals summarize research on why adolescents drink; describes the health risks of underage drinking; provides an overview on preventing underage drinking within a developmental framework; and highlights selected prevention/intervention programs showing promise.
· Alcohol and Development in Youth-A Multidisciplinary Overview, Alcohol Research & Health, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2004/2005 -- This issue of NIAAA's peer-reviewed journal summarizes research that brings a developmental perspective to bear upon the problem of underage drinking. Articles in this issue include the following: The Scope of the Problem; Developmental Issues in Underage Drinking Research; The Effects of Alcohol on Physiological Processes and Biological Development; Genetics, Pharmacokinetics, and Neurobiology of Adolescent Alcohol Use; Psychosocial Processes and Mechanisms of Risk and Protection; Environmental and Contextual Considerations; and Interventions for Alcohol Use and Alcohol Use Disorders in Youth.
· Underage Drinking: A Major Public Health Challenge - Alcohol Alert No. 59 -- an overview of research findings and statistics on underage drinking, part of NIAAA's Alcohol Alert series for research and health professionals.
· Reducing Underage Drinking - A Collective Responsibility -- a report issued in 2003 by the Institute of Medicine/National Academies of Science.
· Monitoring the Future -- an ongoing study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) that examines the behaviors, attitudes, and values of young Americans, including 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students.
· National Survey on Drug Use & Health -- a survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population, age 12 and older.
· YRBSS: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System -- a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which surveys students in grades 9-12.