Reducing Underage Drinking A Collective Responsibility (2004) / Chapter Skim
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4. Understanding Youth Drinking
4. Understanding Youth Drinking
Pages 70-86
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From page 70... ...
Warnings against underage drinking from parents or in health class may well be drowned out by the barrage of daily messages about alcohol in daily life. Given this backdrop, it is not surprising that experimental or occasional use of alcohol is reported by the majority of adolescents in the United States, making it a normative behavior during the second decade of life.
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From page 71... ...
A recent favorite showed teenagers getting into a nightclub using fake identification. A favorite T-shirt for 16-year-old Sam says, "I'm trying to graduate with a 4.0 .
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From page 72... ...
. Specific expectancies also differ by age: 12- to 14-year-olds rank reduced tension and impaired behavioral functioning highest; 15- to 16-year-olds cite enhanced social and physical pleasure and modified social and emotional behavior; and 17- to 19-year-olds cite enhanced sexual performance and increased power as top alcohol expectancies (Christiansen et al., 1982)
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From page 73... ...
In order to understand the shifts that adolescents are undergoing, it is important to consider both changes in cognition and in the social world in which adolescents find themselves during this period. Cognitive Changes Cognitive changes during adolescence include gradual improvements in social perspective, to about age 16 (Steinberg and Cauffman, 1996)
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From page 74... ...
Underage drinking and other forms of risk taking are likely to occur in social situations and when adolescents find themselves with large groups of unfa
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From page 75... ...
The outcome may be overestimates of others' drinking and acceptance of such behavior, leading them to believe that the norm is to drink and that they should do it, too. However, providing adolescents with more realistic information about the extent to which people drink alcohol may not by itself reduce alcohol consumption.
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From page 76... ...
argued that sensation seeking influences alcohol use indirectly, through peer affiliations: teens who are sensation seekers tend to choose friends with similar sensation seeking desires, and such peer group affiliations increase alcohol use.
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From page 77... ...
. Extreme overestimaters engaged in significantly more mild and severe deviant behaviors than either the moderate overestimaters or those whose estimates were correct, and they reported poorer self-esteem, lower grade point averages, and less rational decision-making skills.
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From page 78... ...
. More specific expectancies, such as enhanced sexual feelings, power, and reduced tension have been reported by those with greater drinking experiences, while youth with little or no alcohol experiences have more global expectancies of increased pleasure (Christiansen et al., 1982)
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From page 79... ...
A "wet" community environment is one in which drinking is prevalent and common, public opinion is generally tolerant or positive, and alcohol is readily available both commercially and at private social occasions and is advertised as available. A "dry" community would be one in which drinking at social occasions is not the norm and is generally frowned on, and alcohol outlets are relatively scarce.
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From page 80... ...
SOURCE: Data from National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (2002)
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From page 81... ...
that included annual items on individual drinking for 19821985 and 1988-1989. The initial cohort of 12,000 respondents ranged in age from 17 to 24 at the beginning of this period in 1982, so that the NLSY data provide information on drinking trajectories for older teens and those in their twenties.
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From page 82... ...
Although less than one-quarter of college students are in such settings, student-segregated apartments or college residence halls provide the conditions under which binge drinking is likely to occur: cultural norms that support drinking, little supervision by any adults, and peers who are likely to be heavily involved in drinking. In a recent study, Cook and Moore (2001)
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From page 83... ...
. It should be noted, however, that interventions that attempt to prevent or reduce alcohol consumption by focusing on changing perceptions of social norms must proceed cautiously.
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From page 84... ...
Parents help shape prosocial and antisocial behavior, which leads children to gravitate toward particular crowds. Parental monitoring and involvement are key components in reducing adolescent alcohol use.
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From page 85... ...
Although most parents give their adolescents increasing autonomy to make a wide range of decisions -- in friendship, academics, extracurricular involvement, and consumer choices -- many do so with little guidance or without letting adolescents experience the consequences of their actions. In addition, many parents provide an inconsistent pattern of restrictions and privileges (e.g., childlike restrictions about bedtime that don't match the adult privilege of driving the family car)
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From page 86... ...
Likewise, normal adolescent development includes focusing on peers and searching for one's own identity and friendship niche; however, these normal developmental processes lead to trying risky behaviors and conforming to peer norms that often include alcohol use. Thus, the trends that are typically associated with healthy adolescent development also set the stage for increased opportunities for alcohol use.
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