Home Alone

A recent story on NPR’s Morning Edition covered the topic of when tweens can be left home alone:

It’s a balancing act for parents, trying to balance independence while providing effective parental monitoring skills. The conundrum for many parents is that they want to trust their kids to be home alone, yet many recall from their own teen years that inevitable tug toward the forbidden.

"They're looking for trouble, and exploring and pushing boundaries" says [William L. Coleman, professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill] "That's normal."

It's important for parents to recognize that there's a lot of variability among kids. Some will push the boundaries in reckless, dangerous ways, like experimenting with sex and drugs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System says that more than 75 percent of high school students have experimented with alcohol, 38 percent report that they've tried marijuana, and 48 percent have had sex.

Coleman says the developing brain tends to get a little reward for risky business.
"Getting that rush of adrenaline, and then talking about it to your friends," says Coleman, "that's huge."

Studies show that late afternoons—the time after school and before parents get home from work—are the prime time for kids to try out forbidden behaviors, like drinking alcohol.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America recommends:

The most important time of day to monitor is after school from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Kids are at the greatest risk for abusing drugs during these hours. Call your child's school to find out about adult-supervised activities he can take part in during these hours. Encourage her to get involved with youth groups, art or music programs, organized sports, community service or academic clubs. Follow up with your child to make sure he is actually going to the program he has chosen.

More parental monitoring tips are available here.

10 realities not reflected in the song "I love college"

10 Realities Not Reflected in the Song “I Love College”

This is song by Asher Roth which is receiving a lot of play on radio, TV, and online--especially in programs geared towards young adults.

The song “I Love College” portrays concerning messages about high-risk alcohol use and its role in college life. High-risk drinking is a behavior which negatively impacts the health, safety, and success of many of Maine’s (and our nation’s) college students and communities.

While college drinking is an issue which warrants attention and evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies, it should be noted that the frequency and extreme nature of the alcohol use and related behaviors depicted in the song “I Love College” reflect the behavior of the minority, NOT the majority, of college students.

You may preview the music video at:
http://www.mtv.com/videos/asher-roth/339182/i-love-college.jhtml

You may read the song lyrics at:
http://www.elyricsworld.com/i_love_college_lyrics_asher_roth.html

Reality #1: 6 out of 10 students reported they had not had 6 or more drinks per occasion when (and if) they drank alcohol in the past month. 25% reported they had not consumed any alcohol in the past 30 days.*

This means that the song’s lyrics which make it seem like college students typically drink to the point of intense intoxication and/or passing out is not the reality- MOST never drink enough to get to this point.

Reality #2: 8 out of 10 students reported drinking alcohol on 5 or fewer days in the past 30 days.*

This means that the song’s lyrics which make it seem like college students drink heavily 2 or more times a week is not the reality of what MOST college students do.

Reality # 3: 8 out of 10 students reported that when (and if) they drank in the past 30 days, they typically took one or more measures to reduce their risk of becoming intoxicated- such as not drinking on an empty stomach, alternating between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, limiting themselves to one or fewer drinks an hour, and keeping track of how many drinks they consumed.*

This means that the song’s depictions about competitive drinking are not reflective of what most college students are doing when (and if) they drink– and especially not at the frequency the song portrays.

Reality #4: 8 out of 10 students reported that in the past 30 days they had chosen not to drink alcohol at a party where it was present.*

This means that the song lyrics which make it seem like everyone at parties is really drunk is not accurate.

Reality # 5: 8 out of 10 reported they had not chugged alcohol in the past 30 days. 9 out of 10 had not funneled alcohol in past 30 days. Only 2 out of 10 reported playing table-top drinking games (i.e. beer-pong, beer-die, Beruit) on a weekly basis. About 50% do not regularly play these table drinking games: 25% of students reported never playing, and another 25% reported only playing a few times a year.*

This means that MOST college students are not engaging in competitive drinking when (and if) they use alcohol.

Reality #6: 8 out of 10 students reported that they had not consumed alcohol at a fraternity or sorority house in the past 30 days.*

This means that the song and video’s depiction of an Animal House -reminiscent frat party is not the setting MOST college students regularly drink alcohol in- if they drink at all.

Reality #7: 7 out of 10 students reported that the use of alcohol had not interfered with their academic performance.*

MOST college students don’t let drinking interfere with their efforts to work towards graduating.

Reality # 8: 8 out of 10 students reported they had not used marijuana in the past 30 days.*

This means that the lyrics which make it seem like most college students smoke pot regularly simply is not a reality.

Reality # 9: Most students – about 8 out of 10- reported they had not had sex in the past year with someone whom they were not previously in a relationship with.*

This means that the promiscuity referenced in the song is not behavior most college students typically engage in.

Reality # 10: Most students – over 9 out of 10- reported they had not gambled in the past 30 days.*

MOST college students don’t engage in poker despite it being shown as part of “college life” in the video.

* Based on preliminary analysis of a student survey conducted in 2008 which had over 6,000 Maine college students respond

For more information about college drinking, how to reduce it, or Maine’s Higher Education Alcohol Prevention Partnership, please e-mail HEAPP’s Director Becky Ireland at Rebecca.Ireland@maine.gov

Teen Star Fights Underage Drinking

Among all of the confusing messages that youth get through mass media, it’s nice to see a teen icon speaking out against underage drinking.

Miley Cyrus is a 16-year-old singer and star of the Disney show Hannah Montana (and daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus). The young entertainer, who performed on last night's American Idol results show, decries Hollywood producers' lack of attention to underage drinking.

Giving one obvious example, the 16-year-old Disney star tells Glamour magazine, "At one of my very first awards shows I ever did, there was a bottle of vodka in my gift bag." She goes on recalling, "No one cared that they were giving this to a 12-year-old."

We love it when celebrities use their powers for good!

Alcopops and parents

More than one half of adults believe that alcopops promote underage drinking. That’s the result of a recent study by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Alcopops are sweet, flavored alcoholic beverages that look and taste like soda, tea, punch, or lemonade. The labels on these drinks can be confusing, and even though they often have a higher alcohol content than beer, the product packaging may not even be clear that there is alcohol inside.

According to the survey, most adults support stricter laws regarding alcopops.

For more information about how alcohol is marketed to youth, visit the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth.

via Forbes Online

Binge drinking on the rise in France and England

The French government is in the process of raising the Minimum Legal Drinking Age from 16 to 18; this would bring French laws into line with most of the rest of Europe.

The bill is part of a larger piece of legislation addressing health, and would not only stop beer and wine sales to youth under 18 (they are already banned from purchasing spirits and liquor), but would also outlaw open bars—which are linked to binge drinking—and outlaw the overnight sales of alcohol at gas stations.

While total alcohol consumption has fallen almost 50% in France over the past fifty years , the amount that young people drink has been steadily increasing.

The number of alcohol-induced hospitalizations for minors under age 15 grew 50 percent between 2004 and 2007

Other changes could be on the way for European drinking habits as well: Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson would like to set a minimum price on alcohol sales in the UK . The proposed price would be £1 for restaurants and pubs (about $1.45) and 50p in stores (about $0.73). Prime Minister Gordon Brown is not enthusiastic about the plan, despite the fact that binge drinking in England is also on the rise.

CBS Drops Ban on Liquor Ads

Since 1996, network television stations have participated in a voluntary ban on liquor advertisements*. But on February 9, CBS effectively dropped its longstanding voluntary ban when CBS-owned stations and affiliates ran a prime-time promotion for Absolut vodka during the Grammy Awards show.

There was certainly a youth audience at this event, since performers at the 2009 Grammys included 16 year old Miley Cyrus, 18 year old Taylor Swift, and teen favorites the Jonas Brothers, who had just headlined the Disney Kids Inaugural Concert.

We are also concerned that, in their search for funding, network stations may continue to turn to liquor advertisements for income.

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest:

• Children and teens already view a disproportionately large number of alcohol ads on broadcast media that glamorizes and encourages drinking. In 2007, 12-20 year-old youths were exposed to 38% more alcohol advertisements than they were 6 years earlier. On average, teens are exposed to 301 television ads for alcohol annually, up from an average of 216 in 2001.
  
  
• Young people’s awareness of alcohol directly translates into stronger intentions to drink as an adult. Studies as early as 1994 showed that alcohol advertising can predispose young people to drink.
  
  
• In 2007, the liquor industry spent over $118 million on television ads, almost a 4,000% increase since 1999.3 Underage drinking increased during that same time period.

Let the local and national CBS stations know about your concern by contacting them. Some talking points are here, and some more background on the issue here .


*Prior to 1996 the ban was legally mandated.

NBA allows liquor advertising

First, it was yet another beer-ad soaked football season. Now the NBA has voted to expand its advertising to hard liquor. For those of you who have tried to watch a sporting event on tv with the kids, you already know most commercials wouldn’t fly on most youth programming. Yet there you are on the couch with your impressionable teen watching the good times to be had with scantily clad women and lots and lots of beer.

What, no cigarette ads? Oh, right, they banned those years ago. How? Because lots and lots of people complained.

Here’s your chance to act against the onslaught of alcohol advertising bombarding our youth. Please pass this along.

http://takeaction.cspinet.org/campaign/nbaliquorads