Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Prescription “Sharing” Among Teens Widespread, Dangerous

A new study shows that one in five U.S. adolescents “lends” or “borrows” diverse prescriptions, with consequences that are sometimes dangerous or even deadly.

Earlier research had established that almost 40 percent of U.S. adults “lend” or “borrow” prescription drugs.

“However, prior to our study, no one had asked adolescents how often they shared prescription medications, which meds they shared and what some of the outcomes were,” said lead study author Richard Goldsworthy, Ph.D., director for research and development at Academic Edge, Inc.

The study appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

In addition to the danger of unforeseen side effects, prescription sharing can lead to delayed or suboptimal care, when teens postpone or skip needed appointments thinking they have addressed a problem. Misuse of “shared” antibiotics aggravates the growing problem of antibiotic drug resistance.

Additionally, the 32.4 percent of youth who did eventually see a physician often did not reveal having taken a “borrowed” medication. This can lead to unforeseen drug interactions.

Source: Health Behavior News Service
http://www.cfah.org/hbns/archives/getDocument.cfm?documentID=2099

One in 10 High School Seniors Have Used Narcotic Painkillers

Pain relief isn't the main reason why one in 10 high school seniors have tried opioid drugs, a new U.S. study finds.

The most common reasons included relaxation, feeling good or getting high, experimentation and then pain relief. Students used drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, hydromorphone, meperidine, morphine and codeine without a prescription, researchers say.

"The results of this study provide compelling evidence that adolescents have a wide range of motives for using prescription opioids non-medically, and these motives should be carefully considered in efforts to reduce this behavior," said study author Sean Esteban McCabe, a research associate professor at the Substance Abuse Research Center of the University of Michigan.

The researchers found that 12.3 percent of the students said they had used opioids for non-medical reasons; 8 percent said they had used them during the past year.

The top reasons for using these drugs were to relax or relieve tension (56.4 percent), to feel good or get high (53.5 percent), to experiment (52.4 percent), to relieve physical pain (44.8 percent) or to have a good time with friends (29.5 percent), McCabe said.

The report is published in the August issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/08/03/one-in-10-high-school-seniors-have-used-narcotic.html

Teens’ Heavy Drinking Tied To Depression

Teenagers who drink heavily are also more likely than their peers to have behavioral problems or symptoms of depression and anxiety, a new study finds.

The study, of nearly 9,000 Norwegian teenagers, found that those who said they had been drunk more than 10 times in their lives were more likely to have attention and conduct problems in school. Meanwhile, heavy-drinking girls showed higher rates of depression and anxiety symptoms.

The findings, published in the online journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, are based on a one-time survey. They do not, therefore, show whether the drinking came before or after the teenagers' other problems.

"We can say that mental health problems (are) closely connected to alcohol drinking and intoxication, but we cannot from these data say anything about which comes first," explained lead researcher Dr. Arve Strandheim, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.

That said, conduct and attention problems do tend to develop early in childhood, and would be less likely to arise in adolescence, Strandheim told Reuters Health.

Source: Reuters/MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31853960/ns/health-addictions/

Team Sports Can't Compete With Films to Keep Kids From Smoking

Taking part in team sports lowers the odds of children smoking, but it can't compete with the powerful influence of smoking in movies, a new study finds.

Movies can shape popular taste and behavior, from clothing to cultural habits; other studies have found that seeing smoking in movies increases the chances that children will light up. As many as 30 percent to 50 percent of adolescent smokers attribute their smoking to seeing it in films, researchers say.

"Team sports is clearly protective to prevent youth from smoking," said lead researcher Anna M. Adachi-Mejia, a research assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Hood Center for Children and Families, at Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, N.H.

But movies can undo that positive effect, Adachi-Mejia said. "Parents need to be aware of the need to minimize their child's exposure to movie smoking," she said. "So even if their child plays sports, that's not enough."

The report is published in the July issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Source: Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/07/06/hscout628771.html

Higher Drinking Age Linked To Less Binge Drinking -- Except In College Students

New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found substantial reductions in binge drinking since the national drinking age was set at 21 two decades ago, with one exception: college students. The rates of binge drinking in male collegians remain unchanged, but the rates in female collegians have increased dramatically.

Reporting in the July issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the researchers say although policy initiatives aimed at lowering rates of underage drinking generally have been successful and that binge drinking is down among young people overall, it remains a problem on college campuses.

Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks on a given occasion.

Source: Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622163033.htm

Alcohol Risks Greater In Teen-Onset Drinkers

Delaying the start of alcohol drinking might curb subsequent rates of alcohol-related injuries.

Interviews with a representative sampling of the U.S. adult population suggest a link between "starting to drink at an early age and not only unintentionally injuring oneself while under the influence of alcohol, but with injuring other people, Dr. Ralph W. Hingson told Reuters Health.

Drinking onset at 16 and younger, versus 21 and older, appears to double the likelihood of alcohol-related driving or unintentional injuries, as well as the risk for alcohol dependence or abuse, the investigators report.

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5545BY20090605

2008 Parent Study on Teen Alcohol & Drug Use Reveals Mixed Bag of Results

The 2008 Parents Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) was recently released by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and MetLife. The results of the 14th annual survey contains a mixed bag of results, and underscores the need for parents to take the lead in educating and preventing drug and alcohol use by their kids.

The Partnership/MetLife Foundation Parents Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) reveals a strong increase in parental awareness of the dangers of one of the most troubling and persistent trends in teen drug use -- teen abuse of prescription medications.

According to the PATS 2008 survey, in a single year's time, the number of parents who mistakenly believe that abusing prescription medicines is "much safer" than using illicit street drugs dropped by nearly half--from 19 percent in 2007 to just ten percent in 2008. The same level of progress was reported regarding beliefs about the addictive potential of some prescription medicines when misused. In 2007, 24 percent of parents believed that intentional abuse of prescription medicines would not be addictive. In 2008, that number decreased significantly to 11 percent.

Yet, the heightened awareness has yet to translate into increased parental action to prevent the behavior, however. The data show a small, yet statistically insignificant, percentage gain in the number of parents who say they have discussed the dangers of Rx abuse with their teens, from 68 percent in 2007 to 72 percent in 2008. The top three drug topics parents report discussing with teens are drugs in general, cigarettes and alcohol.

Other significant findings:

Media Prompts Parent-Teen Conversations
The primary -- and increasingly influential -- cue for parent-teen discussions about drug and alcohol issues is the media, particularly television. In 2008, 70 percent of parents surveyed reported that something portrayed in the media prompted a conversation with their child about drugs or alcohol, and 64 percent specified that they were motivated to start a discussion by seeing something drug-related on television. This represents a significant increase from 2007, when 63 percent and 57 percent of parents, respectively, reported the media in general or television specifically as a cue to talk to teens about substance abuse.

Mothers Take the Lead in Monitoring, Dads Have Opportunity to Engage More With Kids
The 2008 PATS study reveals a jump in the number of parents who are aware of their ability to influence their teens' decision to use drugs or alcohol. The percentage of parents who agreed with the statement "there is very little parents can do to prevent their kids from trying drugs (other than alcohol)" dropped nearly 40 percent since 2007 to just 21 percent in 2008. More parents believe that they can help prevent alcohol use as well, with just 23 percent agreeing that there is little parents can do to prevent drinking, down from 34 percent in 2007.

Within the home, however, there are dramatic differences in attitudes between mothers and fathers. Fathers were nearly three times as likely to believe that drug education should take place in school (34 percent of fathers versus 10 percent of mothers). Additionally, fathers report greater difficulty reconciling the desire to have their child see them as a friend with the need to set rules and monitor their teens. Fathers were far more likely (18 percent) to report having difficulty enforcing rules about alcohol, cigarette or drug use than mothers (10 percent). Fathers also placed greater value on being their child's friend (59 percent of fathers, 51 percent of mothers) although the majority of parents thought friendship with their child was important. As mothers take the lead role in monitoring their teens, this creates a unique opportunity for fathers to engage their children on this important health issue.

Source: PRNewswire
http://sev.prnewswire.com/null/20090504/DC0985904052009-1.html

If you are looking for more information on keeping your kids drugs and alcohol free, see HomeWord's free article, "How to Talk to Your Kids About Drugs".

8.3M Kids Live With A Parent Who Abuses Drugs, Alcohol

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 12% of kids under the age of 18, live with at least one parent who is dependent on or abused alcohol or illicit drugs. Is there any doubt that kids exposed to such living conditions are negatively affected?

In Brief:

Combined data from 2002 to 2007 indicate that over 8.3 million children under 18 years of age (11.9 percent) lived with at least one parent who was dependent on or abused alcohol or an illicit drug during the past year.

Of these, almost 7.3 million (10.3 percent) lived with a parent who was dependent on or abused alcohol, and about 2.1 million (3.0 percent) lived with a parent who was dependent on or abused illicit drugs.

About 5.4 million children under 18 years of age lived with a father who met the criteria for past year substance dependence or abuse, and 3.4 million lived with a mother who met the criteria.

Source: The NSDUH Report (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k9/SAparents/SAparents.pdf

Teen Drug Education Also Helps Curb Risky Sexual Behavior

School-based drug education programs for adolescents can have a long-term positive impact on sexual behavior in addition to curbing substance abuse, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Researchers found that young adults who had been exposed to a popular drug abuse prevention program as adolescents were less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior five to seven years later, according to the findings published online by the Journal of Adolescent Health. The study provides the strongest evidence to date that drug abuse prevention programs can also curb risky sexual practices in young adulthood.

"The lessons these young people learned about how to avoid drug and alcohol abuse appears to have had a positive impact on their sexual behavior as well," said Phyllis Ellickson, the lead author of the study and a researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

The study found that youth exposed to a drug abuse education program were significantly less likely as young adults to either engage in sex with multiple partners or to have unprotected sex because of drug and alcohol use than their peers who had not received the training.

Source: ScienceDaily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429111247.htm

Good Relationship With Parents May Prevent Teen Drinking Problems

Another study underscores the protective benefits of parents being proactive in pursuing a good relationship with their teenager.

Teenagers who have a strong relationship with their parents may start drinking at a later age -- which may, in turn, lessen their risk of developing alcohol problems, a new study suggests.

The findings, published in the May issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, underscore the important role parents play in the risk of problem drinking.

Past studies have suggested that the age at which kids start drinking is a key factor in whether they eventually develop alcohol-related problems, like getting into fights or having academic or work problems.

So it often has been assumed that drinking at an early age, in and of itself, is the problem, explained the study's lead author, Dr. Emmanuel Kuntsche, of the Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"Our work shows that the 'preventive effect' of a later drinking age is likely to be a side effect of a good parent-child relationship," Kuntsche said. "In other words, the circumstances in which that first drinks occurs -- and how parents deal with it -- is important."

The study's data revealed the importance of parents' influence. In fact, only teenagers who reported both a later drinking age and a high-quality relationship with their parents had a lower risk of drinking problems compared with their peers.

A high-quality relationship was one where teenagers felt they could discuss their problems with their parents and that their parents respected their feelings.

Source: Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423180235.htm