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Clear Messages Reduce Teen Drug Use

Students With Parents Who Set and Enforce Clear Rules are Less Likely to Report Illicit Drug Use

Youths whose parents set clear rules for them are less likely to report using illicit drugs, according to data from the 2008-09 PRIDE Survey. Middle and high school students* whose parents set clear rules for them “a lot” or “often” were less likely to report using illicit drugs in the past year (12% and 21%, respectively) than students whose parents never set clear rules (49%). Similar results were found for having parents who punish them for breaking these rules (data not shown). Previous studies have found that youths living in households where parents kept track of their whereabouts and set curfews were less likely to report heavy drinking.

 

 

SOURCE: Adapted by CESAR from PRIDE, Questionnaire Report for Grades 6 to 12, 2008-09 National Summary – Grades 6 thru 12, 2009. Available online at http://www.pridesurveys.com/customercenter/us08ns.pdf.

Drugs and Kids: How Parents Can Keep Them Apart by Gary L. Somdahl

Alcohol Cable TV Advertising and Teens

Alcohol advertising reaching too many teens on cable TV, researchers say

A new study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, in collaboration with UCLA, has found a striking correlation between teenage viewership and the frequency of alcohol advertising on cable television. The findings show that ads for beer, spirits and "alcopop" aired much more frequently when more teens were watching.

While previous studies have shown that the average adolescent is exposed to well over 200 alcohol ads on television each year, this is the first to demonstrate an association between ad placement and teen cable TV viewership. Cable TV attracts about 95 percent of all nationally televised alcohol ads.

The study will be published in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health and is currently available online by subscription.

"Alcohol advertisers have pledged to avoid audiences made up of more than 30 percent underage viewers — such as children’s programming," said David H. Jernigan, director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth and an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "However, many other shows have adolescent appeal. This research suggests that ads are aimed at groups that include a disproportionate number of teens and that the alcohol industry’s voluntary self-monitoring is not working to reduce adolescent exposure to ads."

Using advertising industry data from Nielsen Media Research, researchers examined all 600,000 national cable alcohol ads shown from 2001 through 2006 to audiences with less than 30 percent of viewers between the ages of 12 and 20. Among the findings:

• Audiences with a higher percentage of youth between the ages of 12 and 20 were exposed to a higher frequency of alcohol ads, even after accounting for other factors that might explain ad placement decisions.
• Each 1-percentage-point increase in adolescent viewership was associated with a 7-percent increase in beer ads, a 15-percent increase in spirits ads and a 22-percent increase in ads for low-alcohol refreshers/alcopops — flavored alcoholic beverages that taste similar to juice or soda.
• In contrast, wine ads decreased by 8 percent with each 1-percentage-point increase in adolescent viewership; this finding suggests that alcohol advertisers can, in fact, successfully avoid adolescent audiences.

"This study did not examine whether alcohol advertisers are intentionally overexposing adolescents," said lead study author Dr. Paul J. Chung, assistant professor of pediatrics at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA and a senior natural scientist at the RAND Corp. "The alcohol industry has consistently denied actively targeting teens, and our study isn’t designed to test that claim. However, the ultimate effect of their advertising strategies, intentional or not, appears to be greater exposure than might be expected if adults were the sole targets of ads."

For years, alcohol has been the substance of abuse most commonly used by teens in the United States, and the public health consequences of underage drinking are considerable. Numerous studies and national statistics report that adolescents are involved in a significant proportion of the injuries, violence and crime that stem from binge drinking and other forms of alcohol abuse. Moreover, studies have shown that starting to drink as an adolescent has been linked with much greater risks of lifelong problem drinking.

Multiple studies suggest that alcohol ads can have substantial influence on underage drinking attitudes and behaviors.

"It’s difficult to document experimentally," said Chung, who also directs the UCLA–RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion. "But there’s not too much doubt that advertising and marketing affect the behavior of both children and adults. Common sense tells us that if it didn’t work, companies probably wouldn’t be spending so much money on it. So, it’s a lot harder for parents, teachers and clinicians to successfully encourage kids to delay drinking when so many things they’re seeing — on television, on billboards, on movie screens, on the Internet — are telling them otherwise."

• See also;
• Adolescent Children of Alcoholics
• Adults give booze to kids
• Alcoholic Family Roles
• Current Social Problems
• Tips for Teens: The Truth About Alcohol

Alcohol Information for Teens: Health Tips About Alcohol and Alcoholism (Teen Health Series) by

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are 100% Preventable

FASDs are 100% preventable if a woman doesn’t drink alcohol while she is pregnant.

Learn more about the cause, signs, and treatments and what you can do if you think your child might have an FASD.

The Story of Iyal

This video tells the story of one family living with FASDs. Every family has unique experiences, challenges, and successes. The intent of this video is not to endorse specific interventions, but to share one family’s story and hope.

• View full video (7:03)
• Read the script

 

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects can include physical problems and problems with behavior and learning. Often, a person with an FASD has a mix of these problems.

Read more about FASDs:

• Cause and Prevention
• Signs and Symptoms
• Treatment for Children with FASDs
• Get Help!
• International FASD Awareness Day

Cause and Prevention

FASDs are caused by a woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy. There is no known amount of alcohol that is safe to drink while pregnant. There is also no safe time to drink during pregnancy and no safe kind of alcohol to drink while pregnant.

• Learn more about alcohol use and pregnancy
• Questions and answers about alcohol and pregnancy
• Tips on how to have an alcohol-free pregnancy

Full story at; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• See also;
• Effects of alcohol on women
• A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved
• Alcohol and Pregnancy
• Alcohol intervention may help.
• If you have healthcare training this manual may help.

The Best I Can Be: Living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome-Effects (Revised) (Mom’s Choice Awards Recipient) by Jodee Kulp

Finding Perspective… Raising Successful Children Affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders by Liz Lawryk

Raising a Peer Pressure-Proof Child

Teen Peer Pressure: Raising a Peer Pressure-Proof Child

Learn what kinds of peer pressure teens face, who’s most vulnerable, and how to help your son or daughter resist.

Remember when your teenager took her first steps as a toddler? You hovered behind her — back bent, arms spread — prepared to catch her should she fall. Much as you might like, you can’t shadow your adolescent as you did back then, being there to break her fall when she missteps.

But, say experts, there are steps you can take to support your adolescent in the face of teen peer pressure. Follow them and you’ll rest easier when your teen heads out of the house on a Friday night.

Teen Peer Pressure: What’s Being Pushed?

Here are some findings from recent surveys.

• Smoking. By the time adolescents are just 13, one in five has tried smoking.
• Alcohol use. Two-thirds of teens between the ages of 14 and 17 have tried alcohol. Of teen boys who have tried alcohol, 20% did so by the time they were 12. Episodic, or binge drinking, is also fairly common. Of the adolescents aged 12 to 17, one in four said they’d had five or more drinks consecutively within the past month. Almost a quarter of drinkers aged 16 to 21 admitted to driving after drinking.
• Drug use. Slightly more than 25% of adolescents aged 14 to 17 have used illegal drugs. One-third of young adult marijuana users aged 18 to 21 started using the drug by the time they turned 14.
• Sex. About one in every three kids aged 14 to 15 has had sexual intercourse. Of sexually active teens, almost 30% used no birth control during their last sexual encounter.

Other subjects in this article include;

• Identifying Vulnerable Teens
• Why Teens Fall Prey to Peer Pressure
• Making Your Child Resilient to Teen Peer Pressure

In spite of adolescents’ vulnerability and the strong influence of peers, parents can exert a positive influence on their adolescents’ decision-making processes, offering them ways to combat the effects of peer pressure. Experts explain how. Strategies include;

• Keep communication lines open
• Practice peer pressure scenarios
• Listen to your teen’s perspective
• Keep inviting your kids into your life
• Think beyond punitive responses

This article has some excellent proven strategies and can be found at; Raising Peer Pressure Proof Teens.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Surviving Peer Pressure for Teens by Sara Jane Sluke, Hilary Cherniss, Sara Jane Sluke Hilary Cherniss

Friends, Cliques, and Peer Pressure: Be True to Yourself (Teen Issues) by Christine Wickert Koubek

See also;

• A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved
• Adolescent Children of Alcoholics
• Adults give booze to kids
• Alcoholic Family Roles
• Is Your Teen Using Drugs or Drinking?