underage drinking « Franklin County Caring Communities

Back-to-School Tools for Preventing Underage Drinking from http://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/

Summer’s over, and it’s back-to-school time. For students, the beginning of the school year means new routines, new friends, new stresses, and new social situations (football games, Homecoming, Halloween parties) where they’ll have easy access to alcohol. For parents, it’s an important time to connect with teens, talk frankly about the risks of underage drinking, and reinforce clear no-use rules about alcohol. For teachers and communities, it’s a critical time to be prepared with evidence-based tools to help prevent underage drinking and build students’ abilities to resist alcohol and make smart choices for their future health and well-being.

According to the National Institutes of Health, there are an estimated 10.4 million underage drinkers in the United States. More specifically, the National Institute on Drug Abuse–funded 2010 Monitoring the Future Study showed that 13.8 percent of 8th graders, 28.9 percent of 10th graders, and 41.2 percent of 12th graders had consumed at least one drink in the 30 days prior to being surveyed and that 5.0 percent of 8th graders, 14.7 percent of 10th graders, and 26.8 percent of 12th graders had been drunk. In addition, the survey showed that 83 percent of college students have tried alcohol at least once in their lifetime and that 69 percent reported they have been drunk. More alarming is the occurrence of binge drinking—36 percent of college students reported having consumed five or more drinks in a row at least once in the 2 weeks before completing the survey.

While the numbers are grim, the good news is these figures represent a decline in lifetime alcohol consumption among students on all levels. However, underage drinking is still a major public health and safety issue, and we still need to take action to tackle the problem. Thankfully, many resources are available to support your local underage drinking prevention efforts and lay the groundwork for a healthy school year.

RESOURCES

The Back-to-School Fact Sheet from the Office of National Drug Control Policy highlights drinking and drug use figures and trends among students, the effects of alcohol on students’ health and academic performance, and communications tips for parents.

For Educators and Other School Staff:

Effective alcohol prevention and education programs in schools are an essential part of a community’s comprehensive strategy for preventing and reducing underage drinking. Many are described in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices.

Reach Out Now (RON) is a collaboration between SAMHSA and Scholastic Inc. to provide effective school-based underage alcohol use prevention materials. The package of materials was developed for fifth- and sixth-grade teachers and features ready-to-use lesson plans and worksheets, an interactive wall poster, bonus skill-building activity worksheets, and family pages to help jump-start discussions at home.
Building Blocks for a Healthy Future (Building Blocks), geared toward 3- to 6-year-olds, is a primary prevention program based on principles established by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Through activities, discussion, and exploration, Building Blocks materials help parents, caregivers, and educators promote the healthy social and emotional development of young children in order to prevent future substance abuse.
The NIDA Goes Back to School campaign, of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is a source for free information about the latest science-based drug abuse publications and teaching materials.
The Cool Spot—Teacher’s Corner is a section of The Cool Spot—a Web site from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for youth aged 11 to 13—features lesson plans to help teachers and educators in broaching the subject of alcohol abuse. The plans are aimed toward middle school students and include quizzes and interactive/role-playing activities.
Too Smart To Start provides school-based materials that focus on preventing underage alcohol use and are designed especially for fifth- and sixth-grade students, their families, and their teachers.
The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking: What it Means to You— A Guide to Action for Educators.
A helpful factsheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlines six strategies and lists specific actions that educators can take to make students feel more supported and connected at school.

For Parents

In a poll by the American Medical Association,1 in 10 parents said that it was okay for teens to have alcohol available at parties with a parent present. This surprising statistic means it’s important to share researched-based information with parents in your community about the harmful and legal consequences of providing alcohol to youth.
While most parents do not allow their underage children to drink and would not buy alcohol for their student or allow it at a post event party such as Homecoming, some will. Here’s a guide for parents to help keep their student alcohol free at parties during the school year.
Underage Drinking: Myths vs. Fact Brochure is a good conversation-starter for parents and their students. It sheds light on common myths that teens and preteens may hold about alcohol use among youth and the effects of alcohol on their bodies and brains. Includes a resource guide.

For Students

Kids and Alcohol provides information for youth who want to know more about alcohol. They’ll find out why they shouldn’t drink, what causes youth to drink, and what to do if they’re concerned about a friend who’s drinking.
The NIDA for Teens Web site was created by The National Institute on Drug Abuse to educate students ages 11 through 15 (as well as their parents and teachers) on the science behind drug abuse. NIDA reached out to teens to help develop the site to make sure that the changing content addresses their questions and concerns. The site includes real stories, videos, downloads, and activities.
The Cool Spot is the place for young teens for information on alcohol and resisting peer pressure. What’s on this site? A reality check: How much drinking is really going on? Games, quizzes, facts, and more.
Too Smart To Start is geared toward preventing underage alcohol use in fifth- and sixth-grade students. The site includes quizzes, facts, homework help, advice, games, and free-cards.
The Underage Drinking: Myths vs. Fact brochure sheds light on common myths that teens and preteens may hold about alcohol use among youth and the effects of alcohol on their bodies and brains. Includes a resource guide and more.

Tags: back-to-school, evidence-based programs, Parent resources, teachers, underage drinking

Reprinted from http://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/

“Who needs you as a friend anyway?” “You’re such a baby!” “It won’t hurt you!” These are all powerful peer pressure taunts that youth face, which can sometimes make it difficult for youth to make healthy choices.

However, parents, teachers, and community leaders can adopt evidence-based approaches to help teens and tweens make smarter decisions, resist negative peer pressure, and become a positive influence on their friends and classmates. Along the way, they can arm teens and tweens with the facts to counter youthful myths about alcohol. In fact, community-based practitioners involved in underage drinking prevention stand in a unique position to provide information and resources to others in the community about helping youth understand and deal with underage drinking related peer pressure.

Despite recent declines in alcohol use among youth, alcohol is more pervasive and accepted than illicit drugs like marijuana and abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications, as reported in the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Monitoring the Future Study released in late 2010.

In addition, according to a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) study, when it comes to peer pressure and underage drinking, “Evidence suggests that the most reliable predictor of a youth’s drinking behavior is the drinking behavior of his or her friends. Many research–based interventions target the child’s relevant behavioral skills, such as his or her ability to react appropriately to peer pressure to drink, as well as his or her knowledge, attitudes, and intentions regarding alcohol use.”

What is peer pressure?

Peer pressure is the social influence to adopt a particular type of behavior, dress, or attitude in order to be accepted as part of a group of one’s equals. Positive peer pressure can influence healthy behavior, just as negative peer pressure can lead to risky behavior. The Cool Spot, the NIAAA Web site for 11- to 13-year-olds defines peer pressure for youth as “the feeling that someone your own age is pushing you toward making a choice, either good or bad.”

Although peer pressure affects children as early as preschool age, it becomes an even greater risk when they enter adolescence, especially during the transition to middle school and later to high school. Wanting to fit in, be part of a group, and be accepted by peers takes center stage in a tween or teen’s life.

In emotional situations, peer influence can be hard for teens and tweens to resist. Research has shown that teenagers’ still-developing brain functions make it more difficult for them to stand up to peer pressure. They are drawn to immediate rewards and still learning to control their impulses and analyze and resist pressure from others.

The positive side of peer influence

Not all peer pressure is negative. The need to belong helps young people form friendships and develop social skills such as cooperation, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Peer influence can result in teens working for better grades, finding a healthy interest in the arts or sports, or taking part in volunteer projects, as a result of the influence of the social group they belong to.

Peer influence in alcohol interventions is an evidence-based strategy that works, as demonstrated in the Project Northland study, funded by NIAAA. Part of the project was a seventh grade peer-and-teacher led curriculum focusing on resistance skills and normative expectations about teen alcohol use. The study showed that a peer-led program enhances the positive impact of peer groups, minimizes their negative potential, and improves the credibility of the program. Peer leaders are perceived as more credible sources of social information than adults, and they serve to create and reinforce new behavior patterns. In fact, positive peer influence was one of the primary outcomes of the study.

Underage drinking—“uncool” and not in the majority

Parents and educators alike can support youth by helping them learn and fully understand all the facts about alcohol so they can factor the negative consequences of drinking into the decision making, outlined in the opening chapter of The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. To accompany those facts, Reach Out Now lesson plans from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) address peer pressure for fifth and sixth graders and enable teachers and other leaders to guide a brief discussion in which students investigate what to say or do if someone pressures them to take a drink. Reach Out Now Family Pages provide resources, tips, and activities, including comic-book scenarios so parents can help youth respond to negative peer influence to use alcohol.

Parents and educators can also turn talking about the serious subject of alcohol into a game for tweens. Ready, Set, Listen!—a feature of the SAMHSA Too Smart To Start Web site—is designed to help parents, professionals, and volunteers at the community level talk to young people about underage alcohol use, why it’s not smart, and how to prevent it. The game features guidelines about helping children deal with the need for peer acceptance and monitoring a child’s activities. The guidelines, called Safe Harbors, are research-based and were developed by the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

Here are the facts, from the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health study, released in September 2010:

Among 12- to 17-year-olds, 61.5 percent had never used alcohol. Only 14.6 percent had used alcohol in the past 30 days, and 15.9 percent had used alcohol during the past year.
Looking at age breakdowns, rates of current alcohol use (past 30 days) were 3.5 percent among persons aged 12 or 13, 13.0 percent of persons aged 14 or 15, and 26.3 percent of 16- or 17-year-olds.
Rates of binge alcohol use in 2009 were 1.6 percent among 12- or 13-year-olds, 7.0 percent among 14- or 15–year-olds, and 17.0 percent among 16- or 17-year-olds.

Unfortunately, the rate for 16- to 17-year-olds almost doubles at age 18, which is why early education about the negative effects and consequences of underage alcohol use, and training and guidance in building youth’s resistance skills, are so important.

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