Middle and High School Transitions: Alcohol

What You Need to Know

While many people believe that underage drinking is a “rite of passage,” it is not. In fact, alcohol can cause serious and irreversible damage to the growing adolescent brain.

• Youth who drink can have a significant reduction in their learning abilities, memory and development, due to damage to the brain’s hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.
• The longer you can delay the onset of drinking, the more time you give the brain to grow and develop, and most likely lessen the impact alcohol has on the brain.
• Alcoholism is like any other disease—children are at a higher risk to inherit the disease because of their parents’ history.

According to a National Institute on Drug Abuse study entitled Monitoring the Future (MTF 2005):

• Three-fourths of 12th graders, more than two-thirds of 10th graders, and about two in every five 8th graders have consumed alcohol.
• When youth drink they tend to drink intensively, often consuming four to five drinks at one time. MTF data show that 11 percent of 8th graders, 22 percent of 10th graders, and 29 percent of 12th graders had engaged in heavy episodic, or binge, drinking within the past two weeks.
• The gap between alcohol use by boys and girls has closed. Girls consume alcohol and binge drink at rates equal to boys.
• Forty percent of children who start drinking before the age of 15 will become alcoholics at some point in their lives. If the onset of drinking is delayed by 5 years, a child’s risk of serious alcohol problems is decreased by 50 percent.

What Parents Can Do

Know the warning signs of alcoholism, compiled by the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

• Physical—fatigue, repeated health complaints, red and glazed eyes, a lasting cough.
• Emotional—personality change, sudden moodchanges, irritability, irresponsible behavior, lowself-esteem, poor judgment, depression, ageneral lack of interest.
• Family—starting arguments, breaking rules, withdrawing from the family.
• School—decreased interest, negative attitude, drop in grades, many absences, truancy, discipline problems.
• Social—problems with the law, new friends who are less interested in “standard” activities.

Even if your teen is not exhibiting warning signs, consider establishing the following strategies to reduce the risk of teen drinking:

• Establish an approachable, trusting relationship with your teen.
• Talk with your teen about the facts regarding alcohol, reasons not to drink and ways to avoid drinking in different situations.
• Keep track of your teen’s activities and join with other parents in making common policies about teen drinking.
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Develop family standards about teen drinking and establish—and follow through—on consequences.
• Set a good example when it comes to alcohol intake. If you have a problem with alcohol, sitdown with your children and discuss how it has affected your life, and how it can affect theirs.

Resources: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, www.niaaa.nih.gov Journal of Adolescent Health: A Review of Psychological Risk Factors, www.adolescenthealth.org Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, http://prevention.samhsa.gov/

© CWK Network, Inc.