Teen Drinking: the Facts, the Risks,
and Potential Solutions
A Presentation for Parents
Based on information provided by the Maine Office of Substance Abuse,
May 2003
Our Purpose
Provide information and tips for
preventing teen alcohol use
 Open the lines of communication
among parents
 Identify ways that parents and law
enforcement can support each other

Ultimate goal: Prevent kids from
engaging in high-risk behavior
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Ground Rules
Keep an open mind – there are lots of misperceptions
and false assumptions that have been widely
accepted as “true”
 Remember - we all have different experiences with
alcohol that color our values and beliefs (family
history, past experience, etc.)
 Avoid casting blame – there are lots of ways to be
good parents
 Find common ground – what can we agree on, how
can we avoid mixed messages?
 This isn’t about “good” kids or “bad“ kids – it is about
high-risk choices that are often encouraged by the
environment that surrounds all our kids

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Maine Office of Substance Abuse Parent
Campaign: Do You Really Know?

Research conducted by the Office of
Substance Abuse in 2002:
– Student survey with 8-12th graders
– Random phone survey of parents of 8-12th
graders

Results show wide disparities between
what teens say they are doing and what
parents believe their kids are doing
Source: MYDAUS 2002 and Ethos/Pan Atlantic Parent Survey, 2002.
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Do you really know?
70%
60%
65%
50%
40%
38%
30%
20%
10%
17%
2%
20%
0.50%
0%
Lifetime use (more than a Drinking in the past month
few sips)
Binge drinking (5+ in a
row) in the past 2 weeks
Teens who reported this behavior
Parents who reported that their teen engaged in this behavior
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What do most parents think about teen
alcohol use?
100%
99%
95%
96%
90%
85%
80%
83%
75%
Parents who said they Parents who said it is Parents who said it is
are "very concerned" "very inappropriate" for "very inappropriate" for
about teen drinking
a 14 year old to drink a 17 year old to drink
with no adult
with no adult
supervision
supervision
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Which strategies do most parents support
to reduce underage drinking?
90%
80%
70%
75%
81%
68%
60%
50%
52%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Strengthen
Strengthen
Create stronger
Regulate
enforcement of enforcement of laws to address
advertising to
existing underage
laws that ban underage drinking make drinking
drinking laws supplying alcohol
less appealing to
to minors
youth
Source: Office of Substance Abuse, HZA Parent Survey, June 2002
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Why is underage drinking a problem?

Kids who begin drinking by age 15 are 4x more
likely to develop alcohol abuse/dependence than
those who wait until age 21- the risk drops for
every year that initial alcohol use is delayed
(40% risk before age 15, 10% risk after age 21)

With as little as one drink, alcohol impairs normal
brain function in adolescents more than adults;
each episode of heavy drinking among adolescents
and young adults can result in impaired learning/
memory function for up to 2 weeks
Note: sources for this information are available on the “Medical Impact” page of the Office of Substance Abuse Parent Kit
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Why is underage drinking a problem?

Alcohol-related traffic crashes are the leading
cause of death and disability among teenagers

Alcohol is a major factor in all of the other
leading causes of death and injury among
teenagers – homicide, suicide, burns,
drownings, and falls

Alcohol use has been strongly linked to
depression, sexually transmitted diseases, and
date rape and other criminal behavior (both as
perpetrator and as victim)
Note: sources for this information are available on the “Medical Impact” page of the Office of Substance Abuse Parent Kit
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The minimum legal drinking age is effective

It works
– Many studies have found that drinking among 18-20
year olds increased with the lowered drinking age and
decreased when the drinking age was raised to 21.
– The latest review of all the research available
concludes: “The preponderance of the evidence
suggests that higher legal drinking ages reduce
alcohol consumption”
– The majority of studies on the relationship between
the drinking age and traffic crashes found that traffic
crashes increased significantly with the lowered
drinking age and decreased significantly when the
drinking age was raised to 21.
Source: Wagenaar A. and Toomey, T. Effects of the Minimum Drinking Age Laws: Review and Analyses of the Literature
from 1960 to 2000. Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Supplement No. 14): 2002.
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The minimum legal drinking age is effective

The European Myth: some people claim that the
U.S. would not have such problems with youth
drinking if we lowered our drinking age like the
European countries
-Recent research shows that in a majority of European
countries, a greater percentage of 15-16 year olds
report drinking to excess (5+ drinks in a row) than U.S.
15-16 year olds
-About half of the European countries have intoxication
rates among 15-16 yr olds that are greater than in the
U.S. (1/4 are about the same, and1/4 are lower)
-Many factors influence drinking patterns across Europe
and the U.S., including government policies, tax rates,
retail availability, religious/cultural values, advertising
practices, and social acceptability of intoxication.
Source: US Dept of Justice, Comparison of Drinking Rates and Problems: European Countries and the United States, 2001.
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Laws You and Your Teen Should Know

Illegal Possession

(exceptions: in the scope of
employment or in a private
home in the presence of the
minor’s parent/ guardian)
Furnishing Liquor to a
Minor
– Felony provision if death or
serious bodily injury results

Illegal Transportation
 Teen OUI

Allowing Minors to
Consume in a Place
Under Your Control

Maine Liquor Liability
Act (up to $250,000 plus
medical expenses)
(Zero Tolerance)

Criminal OUI
(.08 per se)

Refusal to be tested
for blood alcohol
content
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The residual impact of an underage drinking
violation goes beyond the fines
For example…





If over 18, they will have a permanent record (even
juvenile records can have an impact, i.e. for security
clearance for future military jobs)
Criminal offenses can impede future job opportunities and
college applications
Transportation offenses can result in car insurance rate
increases as well as suspension of a driver’s license
False identification offenses can result in suspension of a
driver’s license
Furnishing offenses can result in jail time, particularly
repeat offenses
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What you can do at home

Talk with your teen
–
–
–
–
Regularly, not once a year at prom time
Set the rules clearly and provide consequences
Explain why you want them to delay alcohol use
Expect them to avoid risky situations and
unsupervised parties
– Give them an excuse to resist peer pressure by
blaming their refusal on you
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What you can do at home

Monitor your Teen
– Ask questions before and after social events
– Get to know your child’s friends and the
parents of their friends
– Occasionally check to see that they are
where they say and watch for signs of
drinking when they return
– Teach them how to have fun without
drinking
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What you can do at home

Signs to watch for
Unfortunately, by the time a pattern of changes is visible, a
serious problem may already exist - the best way to catch
problems early is to monitor carefully all the time
– Changes in friends
– Decline in school performance
– Losing interest in activities that used to be fun
or important
– Poor concentration
Please note: these may also be signs of depression, suicidal ideation or
other mental illness. More information on signs of a substance abuse
problem is available in the OSA Parent Kit.
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What you can do at home

Self-assessment:
Are you sending mixed messages?
– Be a good role model: if you drink in front of your
children, do so within the low-risk guidelines (no
more than 1-2 drinks daily or 4 on any occasion)
– Avoid telling funny drinking stories or glorifying
alcohol use in front of your children; don’t laugh
about other people’s high-risk drinking
– Be careful not to communicate an assumption
that alcohol is necessary to have fun
– Don’t assume teen drinking is an unavoidable rite
of passage – if you expect your teen to drink, they
probably will
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What we can do as a community

Communicate with other parents
 Get involved with a local coalition working on
substance abuse or other youth issues
 Establish a parent pledge or network of
parents who will promise not to provide
alcohol to youth and who will ensure that any
youth gatherings at their homes will be
supervised and chem-free
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What we can do as a community

Watch for irresponsible merchants and
confront them if they are not carding, are
observed selling to minors, or market alcohol
in a way that appeals to youth
 Praise responsible merchants – say “thank
you” when you observe a clerk carding young
people and refusing sales
 Support the efforts of school administrators to
enforce school alcohol policies
 Ensure that there are plenty of chem-free fun
social opportunities for youth to enjoy
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A few other thoughts…

Kids want and need parents to set clear boundaries and
rules. Adolescence is developmentally a time of testing
the limits – if the limits aren’t clear, they may need to keep
testing them to discover where they are.
 Peer pressure among parents can sometimes be just as
bad or worse than among kids (and may be based on
false assumptions that other parents are more permissive
than they really are).
 Some parents think it is acceptable to host a drinking party
and take away the keys in order to keep kids safe – while
it is clearly important to keep drinking teens off the road,
kids say this sends them a mixed message.
Consider both the legal issues and the long-term
consequences of one-night solutions that focus on
temporarily preventing only one type of harm that results
from teen drinking.
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Ways you can help support law enforcement
efforts to reduce underage/high-risk drinking


Call to report parties in
 Avoid implying to kids
advance if you suspect
that it is okay to break
they will be unsupervised
the law as long as you
or alcohol present (this
don’t get caught
makes it possible to
 Contact state/local
speak with the homepolicymakers to let
owner before the party)
them know you support
Report observations of
efforts to reduce
sales to minors by local
underage drinking and
stores
that you want to see the
law enforced
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Other Resources

Maine Parent’s Kit: www.maineparents.net
or call 1-800-499-0027

Maine Office of Substance Abuse Information and
Resource Center: www.maineosa.org (or call
number above)

Mainely Parents: www.mainelyparents.org
or call 1-800-249-5506

Local Contacts
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