Placer Parent Host Project - Underaged Drinking

Alcohol and Youth

Alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among America’s children and teens - youth use alcohol 10 times more than all illegal drugs combined.
The peak years of alcohol initiation are 7th and 8th grades.
The transition from age 13 to 14 is a particularly risky time for teens.

Compared to 13 year olds, 14 year olds are almost three times likelier to attend parties where parents are present and teens drink alcohol. They are also 4 times likelier than their 13 year old counterparts to be offered prescription drugs, 3 times more likely to be offered marijuana or Ecstasy.

Teens drink differently than adults – tend to drink to get drunk.
Adolescents drink less frequently than adults, but when they do drink, they drink more heavily than adults. When youth between the ages of 12 and 20 consume alcohol, they drink about 5 drinks per occasion (putting them in the binge range). By comparison, adults consume on average two to three drinks an occasion.
Alcohol use is significant and increases substantially from middle to high school. In Placer County
9% of 7th graders report having been very drunk at least once in their life compared to 25% of 9th graders and 41% of 11th graders.
13% of 7th graders, 28% of 9th graders and 37% of 11th graders report current use of alcohol (Question asked - at least one full drink in past 30 days)

Parents Often Blind to Teenage Realities

• Youth in Placer teenage focus groups almost unanimously concurred that parents really have no clue of teenage substance use.
• Parents and adults, for the most part, underestimate the number of adolescents who use alcohol. They underestimate how early drinking begins, the amount of alcohol adolescents consume, the many risks it creates for teens, and the nature and extent of the consequences to both drinkers and nondrinkers. Too often, parents are inclined to believe, “Not my child”.
• 80% of parents believe that neither alcohol nor marijuana is usually available at parties their teens attend. But 50% of teen partygoers attend parties where alcohol, drugs or both are available.
• 98% of parents say they are normally present during parties they allow their teens to have at home. But a third of teen partygoers report that parents are rarely or never present at the parties they attend. [ More]