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Teens, Alcohol and Binge Drinking: Why Kids Are Drinking Hard
Alcohol at a Younger Age
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It’s Saturday night, and kids all over North
America are hanging out at their friends’ houses, watching movies, going to
parties. And children as young as 11 are taking their first drink of
alcohol—the average age when boys start drinking. For girls, that age is now
13. More and more kids are drinking hard liquor, and an
alarming number of those teens and pre-teens are binge drinking,
which is defined as consuming 5 or more drinks of any alcohol in one setting
for boys, and 4 or more drinks for girls.
“When I ask them if they drink to get drunk, they say, ‘Duh,
that’s why we do it,’" says Dick Schaefer, an addiction counselor who has
worked with chemically dependent teens for nearly thirty years. He is also the
author of Choices and
Consequences: What to Do When a Teenager Uses Alcohol/Drugs.
“Getting drunk is the thing to do, and they associate it with fun.”
Traditionally, in the upcoming season of graduation, prom and other kid
rites of passage, the amount of alcohol young people drink soars.
What's important, says Schaefer, is to keep the lines of communication open
before an incident occurs—and know how to deal with your child if you do catch
them drinking.
"They’re
not sipping alcohol—they’re gulping it down like soda.”—Dick Schaefer
The fact is, kids are hitting the bottle in greater numbers these
days, enough to cause the Surgeon General to issue a report last year warning
parents about alcohol consumption among minors. According to the study, there
are 11 million underage drinkers in the U.S., and 7.2 million of those teens
and pre-teens are binge drinking. The reasons for the surge among teens and
pre-teens in recent years are many: Kids are gravitating towards the newer,
flavored hard liquors the alcohol industry is producing. And “They’re not
sipping—they’re gulping it down like soda,” says Schaefer. “The kids I see tell
me they drink every weekend, at least four times a month. And they get drunk
each time.” He considers alcohol to be the number one risk for teens and
pre-teens when it comes to substance abuse. The Surgeon General calls it “The
drug of choice for teens in America."
Besides highway accidents and the increasing number of tragic
fatalities caused by kids drinking to toxic levels, the dangers alcohol poses
are many: recent studies have shown that binge drinking can lead to brain
damage, obesity, memory loss, and impairment of other brain functions. The
statistics are staggering: children who get drunk for the first time under the
age of 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol-related problems later on
in life. And if alcoholism is in your family, your child is four times more
likely to become an alcoholic. It’s been
estimated that more than three million teenagers are alcoholics in this
country, and millions more are classified as having a serious drinking problem.
In the last five years, some troubling new trends have emerged:
There have been an increasing number of younger kids who are referred to the
court as first time users—or kids who have been caught in the act of underage
drinking. “Now we’re getting 12 and 13 year olds referred into the court
system. And I’ve seen kids who are 12 going to the ER as a result of
over-drinking,” says Schaefer. In addition, more girls are being referred to
the courts than ever before.
Misuse, Abuse and
Addiction: Know the Difference
As the director of the Touch Love Addiction Treatment Center in Fargo, North
Dakota, Schaefer also works with the court system in his area to help kids who
have been arrested for consuming alcohol. Frequently, treatment involves
minors attending classes with their parents. He classifies their drinking at
the following levels:
Misuse: Any time a minor drinks. (Except for religious purposes or meals
at home with parental approval.)
Abuse: Any time
a minor gets drunk or stoned, any time they have drugs on them, engage in binge
drinking or have paraphernalia, and any time they get behind the wheel while
intoxicated. As a parent, if you walk into your kid’s room and find a bottle of
alcohol, marijuana or paraphernalia, you should consider them to be at the
abuse level. “Kids at the misuse level won’t bring it home, because they can
take it or leave it and they don’t want to get in trouble,” says Schaefer. “At
the abuse level, they need the chemical high, so they’ll take the chance. Once
you equate having fun with getting high, that’s abuse.”
Potential dependency: The primary relationship for addicts is the relationship with
alcohol or drugs. This is when the relationship with the substance becomes more
important than any other relationship. This is when a child will
choose the chemical high over time with family or friends. “Alcoholics and drug
addicts are very lonely people,” says Schaefer. “You can’t get close to someone
while they’re high. I tell the kids in my classes, ‘You’re lonely, and you’re
going to be lonely until you get straight.’”
Giving Consequences: 4
Types of Contracts
In his work as an addiction counselor, Schaefer developed a system of contracts
parents can give their children in order to keep them alcohol and drug-free.
Each new contract is adopted if the prior one has been broken.
The Rules: What can
parents do to set consequences in the home? Start out with rules. “The rule in
our house is no chemical use. Your curfew is 12:00 midnight on the weekends.”
This is a verbal agreement with your child. List the logical consequences
for breaking the rules. “We caught you drinking. You will have to forfeit the
car keys for 1 month.” Negotiate with your teen and agree to the consequences
ahead of time. This takes the heat out of the moment.
The Simple Contract: This is a rule written down with specific consequences, to be
implemented if the verbal agreement is broken. The Simple Contract should be
written down and signed at the misuse level. At the very least, your child
should agree to three things: no chemical use, no violence, and a curfew. Tell
your teen that if they violate this contract, they will be sent to a chemical
dependence evaluation.
The Turf Contract: If the
Simple Contract is broken, the next type of contract you can implement is the
Turf Contract. This is a written agreement that includes all the points of the
Simple Contract and outlines the behavior required for the teen to earn
privileges at home, like use of the car or cell phone. In addition to stopping
any alcohol or drug use, the behavior might include school attendance and
performance, keeping a curfew, or doing chores at home. The consequence you can
give for breaking this contract is the choice of chemical dependence treatment
in either an in-patient or out-patient setting. Schaefer advises, “Always give
your child a choice—never put a kid in a corner without a way out.”
The Bottom-Line Contract: This is to be implemented if the Turf Contract is violated. The
Bottom-Line Contract is a written agreement that outlines specific behaviors
required for your child to retain the privileges of living at home or staying
in school. It includes all the elements of the Simple and Turf Contracts.
Consequences for breaking this contract by doing drugs or alcohol: Give the
child the choice of two reputable and available inpatient treatment centers.
“You’re saying, ‘You’re out of control, and we’re going to agree to get you
help,'" Schaefer explains.
If You Suspect Your Child
Has a Substance Abuse Problem: What You Can Do Now
If you suspect your child might be drinking or taking drugs, talk to your
child’s school. Substance abuse almost always shows up in attendance, GPA, and
truancy. “If kids are getting drunk, they’re not doing their work,” says
Schaefer. What happens in school is not confidential, and teachers are required
to record observable behaviors of their students. Schools have checklists for
teachers that parents can ask to see. (One of these is called the “Student
Assisted Programs Checklist,” but names may vary from state to state.) The list
includes questions about truancy, the students’ attitudes and behaviors, and
also alcohol and drug-related questions. "As a parent, you have the right
to know what is being recorded about your child," says Schaefer. While
parents do not have a right to hear what kids tell school counselors or
psychologists—except in the case of suicidal or homicidal behaviors or
vandalism—parents do have a
right to see any checklist the school has on their child.
You need to have some communication with your child about drinking
and substance abuse. “It should be just as easy to talk to them about drinking
and marijuana as it is to talk about sex…and that’s the problem,” says
Schaefer. “We think we’re so open but we’re not. Talk about the drinking scene,
talk to your kids about your concerns. Keep the lines of communication open.”
The good news is that not all kids are drinking. About 60 percent
of kids in the U.S. and Canada drink, but 40 percent do not. Arm yourself with
that information before you talk to your child, who might be under the
impression that all his friends are doing it. “That’s the important message
that I try to get across,” says Schaefer. “In my classes I say, ‘You guys are
among the 60 percent, you broke the law.’ And that’s good to tell kids. We’ve
got to break this idea that ‘everybody drinks’ because it’s just not true.”
