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R.A.D.A.R. releases teen survey results
Teen substance use above national norms
By Paige Rentz (As seen in April 3, 2009 issue of Sound & Town Report.)
Parents gathered in the Hommocks Auditorium last Wednesday received some sobering news: Larchmont and Mamaroneck teens are using and abusing substances at alarming rates. Evan Stern, a Hommocks counselor and R.A.D.A.R. board member, presented the results of the 2008 Communities That Care (CTC) Survey, which was administered to last year to over 1,000 students in grades six, seven, eight, 10 and 12 in the Mamaroneck School District. The data from this survey represents trends from the past six years, as the CTC has been administered every two years beginning in 2002.
And the survey says...
Areas of concern to Stern and R.A.D.A.R. included students' regular use (defined by use in the past 30 days) of alcohol and marijuana and rates of binge drinking. While alcohol use has decreased in all but one grade level, alcohol use among 12th graders has been on a steady increase since 2002. The current rate of 80.2 percent for seniors is 82 percent higher than the national average, and the 52.2 percent rate of use among 10th graders exceeds the national norm by 56 percent.
Binge drinking among Mamaro-neck High School students is more than twice the national average. Forty-four percent of tenth graders reported binge drinking in the past two weeks as opposed to the 21.9 percent national norm, and 55.2 percent of 12th graders reported the same, as compared to the 25.9 percent national rate. While binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks in one sitting, parenting expert Mike Nerney, who contextualized the results for parents, indicated that it is more often 9 to 13 drinks.
Marijuana use has increased across all grades, with the clearest jump among seniors. Use by MHS 12th graders has increased more than 100 percent since 2002, and the rates of use are consistently above national norms. The 28.1 percent rate of use by 10th graders is 98 percent above the national average of 14.2 percent. At 48.5 percent, nearly half of all seniors reported smoking pot regularly, a mark that is 160 percent above the national average of 18.8 percent.
In addition, the survey revealed that 27.9 percent of 10th graders and 42.2 percent of 12th graders have been drunk or high at school. Considering all students surveyed, only 19 percent of students had been drunk or high on campus, indicating that it is mostly a problem once students reach high school. However, Stern explained that student perception of risk and harm, availability and community attitudes are all important factors, saying, "It's not just a school problem. It's a community problem; it's a home problem; it's an everybody problem."
"Across the board culturally, we've decided smoking is bad, and our kids don't smoke cigarettes like they use alcohol and drugs." If the same cultural standards were to be applied to alcohol (and marijuana), kids would have a clearer perception of what these substances can do. "What's our perception of risk and harm?" Stern asked the parents. "If we took a harder line would we see results like this?"
The teenage brain
Nationally-known researcher and parenting expert Nerney contextualized the survey results for parents, helping them to understand how teenagers' brain structure and chemistry make them more vulnerable and what they can do to help minimize their children's risk.
It's not that teenagers won't consider future effects of their choices, explained Nerney, but rather that they can't. A teenager's brain functions differently from that of an adult, a fact that is often to blame for the communication barriers between adolescents and their parents: they just naturally function on a different frequency.
The decision-making parts of the brain are not fully formed until the age of 25. Social, emotional and relationship maturation occurs in females between the ages of 20 and 22 and in males between 23-25. Since estrogen and testosterone production usually kicks in around the age of 11 or 12, when teenagers finally reach physical maturity, they are still four to eight years from social, emotional and relationship maturation.
Teenagers make decisions differently. According to research from the University of Pennsylvania, teenagers consider many more variables than do adults when they attempt to make a decision, which results in a decision-making process that takes three times longer to reach a conclusion to very simple queries such as "Is it a good idea to light your hair on fire?" says Nerney.
Nerney also told parents last Wednesday that the idea that teens partake in dangerous behavior because of an invincibility complex is a myth. In fact, there is no research data that shows that kids feel invincible, but rather they often feel more vulnerable in situations than adults do. He explained that teenagers often have conditional beliefs about their realities, expressing them with such phrasing as "if I grow up" rather than "when I grow up." It is not surprising, therefore, that a brain that cannot project itself into the future cannot consider far-reaching consequences in the future.
Even more, the teenage brain is chemically designed to encourage risk-taking. At about the age of 13, new brain sites begin to develop in the part of the brain's limbic system that houses the reward center. As this happens, the brain produces an emotional reward for risk-taking. As the new sites continue to develop and no new chemistry accompanies it, it causes the individual to "ratchet up the risk-taking," Nerney explains. The big question then becomes "How do we use a normal brain function for structured risk taking?' he said. "How do we channel risk taking into productive activities?"
Teenagers' emotions are two to four times more powerful than adults' and are wrapped up in social bonding and inclusion, Nerney explained, noting that in four states suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens and in the other 46, it is the third leading cause. When teenagers are depressed, they feel it two to four times more strongly than adults.
When a teen says "everyone drinks," what they're really saying is that everyone they respect and admire drinks, Nerney explained. The concept that kids are coerced by their "bad friends" into trying alcohol or making other poor choices is a faulty dynamic. "It's not peer pressure, it's peer presence," he said. "When teenagers are in the presence of someone they like or admire, the emotional response for bonding and acceptance far outweighs any potential results 15 years down the road."
In people who are 23 or more years old, alcohol calms the brain, but in younger people, it excites and stimulates the brain. Alcohol is an energizing drug for teens, but it has a long-term payback. Between the ages of 10 and14, there is an increase in a chemical called L1 in the brain that is responsible for the building of future cognitive function. According to Nerney, the only compound known to completely derail L1's ability to do this is alcohol.
A study at Duke University has shown that binge-drinking freshmen actually show a 10 percent reduction in the size of their prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. This is problematic because the prefrontal cortex is responsible for cognitive processes and the hippocampus helps young people acquire social behaviors and help with memory function. High school and college drinkers are seven times more likely to engage in sex while they are three times less likely to use protection, are six times more likely to cut class, four times more likely to engage in vandalism and theft and three times more likely to get in fights or be self-injurious. According to Nerney, the Duke researchers can even predict when binge drinking freshmen will drop out of school or transfer to a less rigorous institution because they can no longer handle the work. By the end of their sophomore year, 42 percent of the binge drinkers will have left the school.
What parents can do
"It's not easy, but it's critical," said Nerney, to create family time. Parents should try to institute family meals at least five times per week. The time does no good, however, unless it is positive time. There should never be any punishments of transgressions meted out over the dinner table, he explained, but rather constructive, positive conversation abut what is going on in each other's lives. Nerney explained that in families who eat dinner together three times or less each week, the risk factor for alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy is 2.5 to 3.5 times greater.
In addition, parents should make their homes a safe house for their children and friends. This means that there should be physical safety in the form of an adult who is present when the children are home in addition to emotional safety. Nerney explained that teenagers have five times the brain sites for appearance and attractiveness than do adults, so part of parents' work in keeping emotional safety intact is not letting anyone put their children down: not a sibling, not a child's friend, no one.
Nerney emphasized that parents must send a strong message about the use of alcohol and other drugs to their children. There should be no abuse of alcohol inside of the home, and getting drunk at weddings and other family or celebratory events is a bad idea because it sends the message to teens that social situations are appropriate times for abuse. One should never get so drunk at a cousin's wedding that they have to be driven home. Nerney also stressed that there should be no war stories. Parents telling about the time they 'got so trashed after graduation' or similar events give teens tacit approval by reliving their so-called glory days.
Parents will do well to employ active listening, using phrases like "no, not that" or "no, and hear's why" when talking with their kids. It is also better to speak to teenagers on terms that are more suited to them. Quiet and calmer is better, said Nerney, who suggested a dark car or a dim bedroom after dinner or before bed. "There is no evidence that kids hear you better when they look at you," he said, so confronting or telling a teenager to "look at me when I'm talking to you" can actually have the reverse effect because it increases the release of THP, the emotional crisis chemical in the brain and actually makes them less able to listen. It is best to invite teens to talk and then wait for as long as it takes for them to respond with what is really going on in their lives. If it takes too long, parents should leave, assuring the child that they will be back within a specific span of time to talk.
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