Troubled Teens Resources

Your teenager has made it all the way to college and you hope that he will survive the typically tempestuous first two years. If he succeeds in resisting the vortex of teenage binge drinking, he will be well on his way to graduation. Recent studies indicate a college student’s tendency to “party hearty” diminishes as he progresses through school.

Another campus based study indicates a promising means of intervention in combatting binge drinking.
Dubbed “motivational interviewing”, it has the at-risk teenager examine the discrepancy between self-destructive behavior and their stated goals.

“They used the motivational interviewing technique with students in the university’s Freshman Seminar program. During two 75-minute class sessions, they talked with students about their goals and values and helped the students recognize discrepancies between their current behavior and their values.

A total of 91 freshmen participated in the study. Of that number 47 were in MI group prevention classes while 44 were in a control group.

“We didn’t think that this type of intervention would be terribly potent in a group format,” Michael said. “We were surprised to find that students who had the intervention consumed fewer drinks and became intoxicated less often than the control group.”

Students who previously had reported getting drunk four to five times a month reported 1.5 fewer episodes of intoxication in a 30- to 45-day period following the MI sessions. They also reported consuming 4.5 fewer drinks during that period.”
(source)

Many crisis intervention programs for binge drinking or drug abuse are local in scope and perhaps not well publicized. If you have a teenager in college, inquire on campus as to what programs might be in place. Check also with the counties and municipalities for possible intervention programs. A little research can go a long way.