Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Teens who drink at home drink more

A new study published in the latest edition of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs concludes that teenagers who drink with their parents tend to drink more. The study included more than 400 families with two teenagers between the ages of 13 and 15. The researchers found a positive correlation between the amount that teens drink at home and the amount they drink when they aren’t home.

Some parents have asserted that they would rather have their teen drink at home where they can keep an eye on them.

Instead, the study seems to support the opposing view that teens who see good behavior modeled in the home (limited and responsible adult-only drinking in this case) will learn that same behavior. Researchers found that teens who drank in the home tended to drink more in public. The reverse was also true. The more teens drank outside the home, the more likely they were to drink in the home. The study also reports that teens who drank more often tended to score higher on measures of problem behaviors two years later.

Read entire article here.

-By Crystal Ladwig, www.examiner.com

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