NurseWeek News

None for the Road
Do your part to help lead our youth away from the dangers of drinking

By Beth Ulrich, Ed.D., RN, South Central Editor
May 28, 2002

Regardless of whether you need the continuing education units offered for the CE article in this issue, you will want to read it if you have young children or grandchildren or just care about the kids in your community. In "Adolescent Drinking: The sobering facts about teen alcohol use and abuse," author Judith Sutherland, Ph.D., MN, RN, paints a disturbing yet realistic picture of the use and abuse of alcohol by today's young people.

The facts are cause for concern. Eighty percent of teens entering high school have had alcohol and more than 60 percent have been drunk. Males are more likely to drink and get drunk. Rural adolescents get drunk more often than do urban adolescents.

A higher percentage of Caucasian adolescents use and abuse alcohol, followed closely by Hispanic adolescents. While African-American adolescents have the lowest rates of alcohol use and abuse, more than one-third of African-American adolescents using and abusing alcohol is hardly something to celebrate.

If you think that, as a parent, being better educated means your children won't drink, think again. Children whose parents have higher education are more likely to drink and get drunk, especially if the parents have advanced degrees.

With Memorial Day behind us, children are either out of school for the summer or about to be. Summer's freedom also means that the opportunities for alcohol use and abuse are increased exponentially.

As last year's Gallup poll showed, people trust nurses more than almost any other profession to provide them with honest information. We are in a position to help educate parents, children, teachers and community members about the incidence of alcohol use and abuse, the factors that influence children to drink or abstain, and ways to reduce the risks.

Whether as a prom or beach party chaperone, a coach, a caring family member, a member of the PTA or church, or a concerned citizen, each of us has a responsibility to help the youth of today find strategies to resist pressure from their peers and the media that depict alcohol consumption as glamorous and "cool" and to help them understand that the effects of alcohol abuse as an adolescent will follow them throughout the remainder of their lives.

Discuss this and other topics with your colleagues at www.nurseweek.com/rnvillage.