Research brief available about adult-supervised teenage drinking

The University of Washington's Social Development Research Group recently released a Research Brief: Adult-Supervised Drinking with Young Teens May Lead to More Unsupervised Alcohol Use and Harmful Consequences.  The key findings discussed in the brief include:

-- By 9th grade, teens who drank occasionally with an adult present were more likely to drink without adult supervision.

-- Teens who drank under adult supervision in 8th grade reported experiencing more harmful consequences of alcohol use, such as not being able to stop drinking, getting into fights, or having blackouts in 9th grade.

This study suggests that parents take a "zero tolerance" stance when it comes to underage drinking. 

Prevention Action features local prevention scientist and the early days of social development research

Most of the substance abuse prevention work we do today is based on the Social Development Strategy developed by Richard Catalano and David Hawkins, co-founders of the UW Social Development Research Group.  The most recent edition of Prevention Action, an online publication reporting internationally on programs for improving children's health and development, includes a story about Dr. Catalano and the research he started in the 1970's. 

When they first started working together . . . Catalano and Hawkins were both convinced that a lot more could be done to prevent drug-use and delinquency occurring in the first place, before it exacted its toll on young people’s social development, education and subsequent employment.

Catalano says: “We wanted to shift services from rehabilitation to habilitation; rather than fixing established problems we wanted to equip children with the skills and resources so that they don’t engage in drugs and delinquency behavior in the first place, and to help create family, school and community environments that support this.”

The full article, along with other prevention-related articles, may be read on the Prevention Action website.

Bullying and youth substance use prevention

The Sunday, June 13, 2010 edition of the Seattle Times includes an opinion piece about bullying prevention by a researcher with the Social Development Research Group. In it, two online resources are listed:

1. the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project,

2. the Communities That Care prevention system.

Why am I listing these on a blog about youth substance use prevention? Because programs listed on the Blueprints website and Communities That Care (CTC) are also used for substance abuse prevention. In fact, the CTC model is similar to the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) that most anti-drug coalitions use.

What families can do

Eckstein Middle School hosted an event for their 8th grade families Tuesday evening. The purpose was to increase awareness about underage drinking and substance abuse that can start the last year a student attends middle school and the first year of high school.

Kevin Haggerty, Assistant Director of the University of Washington Social Development Research Group, gave an engaging presentation about what families can do to prevent underage drinking and substance abuse.

Eckstein Principal Kim Whitworth and I provided information about NE Seattle statistics.

Guiding Good Choices is one way parents and guardians can learn about how they can prevent underage drinking and substance abuse among their children. The Prevention WINS coalition is offering free Guiding Good Choices workshops in NE Seattle.