Troubled Teens Resources

Some school districts are dead serious about teen crisis intervention in the area of teen alcohol consumption. Police are tired of scraping bodies off the road and parents are fed up coming home to trashed homes where unauthorized teen parties have spun out of control.

“Recent suburban drinking parties attracted 70 teens on Grand Island, another 34 in Evans and 22 in Clarence. Eight students in Sloan showed up drunk at a homecoming dance.

Those four incidents all occurred over two weekends.

Once again, alarm bells are ringing across the region about the prevalence of underage drinking.

The alarm has sounded many times over the years, but now the public is starting to learn what educators and advocates for alcohol treatment have been shouting for years:

Teen drinking, always a serious problem, is getting worse.

“They’re drinking younger, they’re drinking more, and they’re drinking for the purpose of getting drunk…”

Schools have formulated a three-pronged plan. All athletes sign a contract agreeing to a code of conduct. Many school districts never enforce the agreements. This school did - over 3 dozen athletes will not finish their season.

“I think the bottom line from youngsters who watch the situation is ‘Oh my gosh, they’re serious. The school district does what they say they’re going to do…”
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They are demanding compliance from parents, even going so far as to mandate that they attend an alcohol-ed class if they want their teenager to be granted permission to attend dances and proms.

Last, help and or therapy is sought for troubled teens found to have an alcohol or drug problem.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ADHA, and Anti-social Personality Disorder have all been associated with teenage alcohol consumption. Add to that long-term memory impairment, depression, anxiety and an increased chance of suicide,it is a wonder that today’s troubled teenagers ever make it to adulthood. And as it happens, 5000 a year do not.

“…nearly one million high school students across the United States are “binge drinkers,” meaning that on each occasion, the teen(s) labeled as such consume more than four alcoholic beverages. Furthermore, three-quarters of high school seniors have consumed alcohol, as well as two-thirds of tenth graders, and two-fifths of eighth graders. Perhaps most tragic of all, 5,000 young people die every year as a result of alcohol consumption, whether from automobile crashes, miscellaneous accidents, or homicide.”

Given those statistics it is no wonder that literally thousand of teen crisis intervention programs and initiatives have blossomed across the country.

“Perhaps just as important to controlling teenage drinking as the court system are non-profit organizations that promote a message of abstainment from intoxication. Such organizations include well-known names like M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), whose slogan is “To resist drugs and violence.” Concerning both alcohol and violence, teenage incidents of both types are often related; it has been suggested that teenagers, and people in general, are more likely to commit crimes… while under the influence of alcohol.”

Fortunately, data is emerging suggesting such efforts are starting to stem the tide.

“Trends in teen drinking continue to decline.” “As few as fifty percent of high school seniors have been drunk within the past year,” says the [American Psychiatric] Association according to one released report.

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Teens at risk have no business being the recipient of a fat allowance. Yet, that often is the case. Parents often assuage their guilt for not being in their teens life by buying their forgiveness. It’s a harsh evaluation but that is what it amounts to. Teen age drug abuse and illegal alcohol consumption has to be paid for by someone and , sadly enough, it’s often the well meaning parent that inadvertently foots the bill.

A recent study in the UK suggest that allowances especially abet alcohol consumption.

“In a study of more than 10,000 15- and 16-year-olds, British researchers found that teens with larger allowances were more likely to drink frequently, binge or drink on street corners and other public places.

The large majority of the teenagers in the study — 88 percent — had tried alcohol at some point. But risky drinking was particularly common among teenagers with more pocket money, presumably because they were better able to buy their own alcohol.”

Unlike America, experts in the UK tend to feel that teens who are introduced to responsible drinking inside the home will have a more mature approach than teens who sneak. For those troubled teenagers who are the recipient of $20 or more per week developed a drinking problem

“Put simply,” Bellis said, “by the age of 14 most children in the UK have drank some alcohol, and they are either learning to drink it from parents in a secure home environment or from peers in a park, bar or on a street corner.”
[..]
But they should also make sure they know how their kids are spending their money, he noted. In this study, teens whose parents gave them more than 10 pounds — or roughly $20 — each week were more likely to use alcohol in particularly risky ways.”

(Source)

As parents ought to know by now, teens know more than they do. Teen crisis interventions are met with impatience and scorn. As we patiently exhort them to not drink and drive, many at-risk teens view such warnings as hysteria and prefer to put their faith in all types of misinformation.

MADD has compiled a list of myths surrounding alcohol consumption. Sit down with your teen and see which ones they have heard. Prom season fast approaches. Arm your teen with as many facts as possible.
Myth: Alcohol gives you energy.
Nope. It’s a depressant. It slows down your ability to think, speak, move and all that other stuff you like to do.

Myth: Switching between beer, wine and liquor will make you more drunk than sticking to one type of alcohol.
Whatever! Your blood alcohol content (BAC - the percent of alcohol in your blood) is what determines how drunk you are. Not the flavors you selected. Alcohol is alcohol.

Myth: You’ll get drunk a lot quicker with hard liquor than with a beer or wine cooler.
Did we mention that alcohol is alcohol?

Myth: Everybody reacts the same to alcohol.
Not hardly. There are dozens of factors that affect reactions to alcohol - body weight, time of day, how you feel mentally, body chemistry, your expectations, and the list goes on and on.

Myth: A cold shower or a cup of coffee will sober someone up.
Not on your life. Nothing sobers you up but time. With coffee, you’re simply a wide-awake drunk!

Myth: It’s just beer. It can’t permanently damage you.
Large amounts of alcohol can do major damage to your digestive system. You can hurt your heart, liver, stomach, and several other critical organs as well as losing years from your life.

Myth: It’s none of my business if a friend is drinking too much.
If you are a real friend, it is your business. You can’t make someone change but you can be honest. Maybe they’ll listen. You might even talk them into getting help.

Myth: The worst thing that can happen is a raging hangover.
Sorry. If you drink enough alcohol, fast enough, you can get an amount in your body that can kill you in only a few hours.

Myth: Drugs are a bigger problem than alcohol.
Alcohol kills more young people than cocaine, heroin, and every other illegal drug combined. Eighteen million Americans are addicted to alcohol or have alcohol abuse issues. Alcohol is the No. 1 drug problem of today’s youth.

Myth: Alcohol makes you more sexy.
The more you drink, the less you think. Alcohol may loosen you up and make someone more interested in sex, but it interferes with the body’s ability to perform. And then there’s pregnancy, AIDS, sexual assault, car crashes and worse, to worry about. Not sexy at all.

Myth: People who drink too much only hurt themselves.
Every person who drinks has a mother, grandfather, sister, aunt, best friend, boyfriend or girlfriend who worries about them. Each of the 18 million problem drinkers in this country affects four other people.

Teen crisis intervention encompasses a whole host of dangers that troubled teens face. With the approach of prom season, summer boating, and teens on vacation, alcohol consumption moves back into the spotlight. Unfortunately, the latest studies indicate that the age teens start drinking has moved lower to the 12 year old bracket, and unfortunately, parents are still cited as the source for those first drinks.

Here are some observations on teen alcohol consumption.

• Very young children – even preschoolers – can tell that alcohol has an effect on people that other beverages do not. In fact, children begin forming opinions about alcohol at an early age, and they tend to view it negatively.9
• Boys’ beliefs tend to be more favorable toward drinking than those of girls. Boys also tend to associate drinking with being more grown up
• Adolescents ages 12 to 14 believe that the positive benefits of drinking (feeling good, fitting in with peers) are more likely to occur than the negative effects of drinking (feeling sick, causing serious health problems). Youth ages 12 to 14 who expect to gain greater social acceptance from drinking are more likely to begin to drink as well as to consume alcohol at faster rates.
• Adolescents ages 12 and 13 see other people, including their parents, as less disapproving of their engaging in drinking than do younger children
• Fifty-six percent of students in grades 5 through 12 say that alcohol advertising encourages them to drink.
• In an annual survey of adolescents, 56 percent of 8th graders, 52 percent of 10th graders, and 43 percent of 12th graders believe that having five or more drinks once or twice each weekend is harmful.
• Seventy-five percent of 8th graders and 89 percent of 10th graders believe that alcohol is readily available to them for consumption.
• Eighty percent of 12- to 17-year-olds surveyed think that alcohol negatively affects scholastic performance, and 81 percent believe it increases the likelihood of getting into trouble.18
• Twenty-two percent of youth under age 18 report drinking at least once a week.

(Source)