Alcohol

Teen Tales: Stories About Parenting Teens

This is the place to share stories and discuss issues about raising teens. Please tell us your issues and stories, including some of the good times you have had with your teen.

Add a Comment
or
View Comments & Responses

Parenting Tip of the Week

Talking to Parents - Drugs/Drinking

Looking for a way to initiate a conversation with another parent about teen drug or alcohol use? Try this: Last weekend my son was at a party where kids were drinking. He didn't drink any, but I was really upset that this happened at another friend's home. Do you think I should I talk to the friend's parents?

Satisfaction Survey

Click here to give us feedback on our website by completing a short survey that will take less than five minutes. The survey is anonymous and all results will be reported as a group.

Alcohol is a drug.

Alcohol is being abused by even very young teenagers. Following are some external resources to help prepare and deal with this topic.

Teens and Alcohol
This University of Minnesota Extension Service fact sheet provides insight on dealing with the issue of teens and alcohol.

You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the following PDF version of this section. If you don't already have the program, you can download it for free here.

Teens and Alcohol Fact Sheet

Alcohol Free Children
To visit the Alcohol Free Children Web site, click here.

College Student Alcohol Trends
To visit the Harvard School of Public Health's College Alcohol Study Web site, click here.

Community How To Guides on Underage Drinking Prevention
National Association of Governors' Highway Safety Representatives & National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

These two organizations developed a series of "Community How To Guides" that address fundamental components of planning and implementing a comprehensive underage drinking prevention program. Topics covered in the guides include:

Coalition Building
Needs assessment and strategic planning
Evaluation
Prevention and education
Underage drinking enforcement
Public policy advocacy
Media relations
Self-sufficiency
Resources

Minnesota Resources on Teen Drinking

Action on Alcohol and Teens (AAT) is a citizen's group that is working to reduce the availability and use of alcohol by underage persons by monitoring, supporting and influencing legislation, ordinances and enforcement efforts in Minnesota.
Fact sheets and information on reducing underage drinking available from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Grant. Funds are also available to assist local law enforcement agencies in conducting compliance checks.
Minnesota Join Together - a statewide project working to change policies regarding youth access to alcohol.
Minnesota Prevention Resource Center (MPRC) – MPRC is a program of the MN Institute of Public Health (MIPH). MPRC is primarily funded through a grant from the Chemical Health Division, MN Department of Human Services. We at the MPRC support people like you who work to promote public health and prevent the problems caused by substance abuse. This includes tobacco and drug abuse, underage use of alcohol and misuse of alcohol by adults. MPRC provides a variety of services and competent staff to meet your needs. We recognize that our website will not answer every question. If you are a MN resident looking for information about alcohol, tobacco or other drug abuse or related violence, or if you want to know what works in prevention, call 1-800-782-1878 or 763-427-5310.

Multiple Types of Alcohol Advertising May Influence Adolescent Drinking
Rand Corporation
Certain types of alcohol advertising may lead adolescents to begin drinking or increase their use of alcohol, according to a Rand Corporation study. This study, titled "Does alcohol advertising promote adolescent drinking? Results from a longitudinal assessment," appears in the 2/5/05 edition of the journal Addiction.

National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism
To visit the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism Web site, click here.

National Resources on Teen Drinking

Alcohol-Related Injury & Violence Prevention – a project of the Trauma
Foundation, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
American Medical Association – "Reducing Underage Drinking Through
Coalitions" is a National Program Office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) – CSPI has worked on national and local alcohol policy issues since 1981. Action alerts and fact sheets available on web site
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) – CADCA provides information and technical assistance to anti-drug and drug-related violence coalitions.
Facing Alcohol Concerns through Education (FACE) – FACE is a national non-profit organization that supports sensible alcohol practices through the development of messages, strategies and training designed to create public awareness about the connection between alcohol and critical public health issues.
Join Together – founded in 1991, Join Together supports community-based efforts to reduce, prevent, and treat substance abuse across the nation.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MAAD)
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information

Reduce the Use Parent's Resources
The Reduce the Use Coalition brings together parents, school personnel, police, municipalities, faith communities, athletic organizations and youth to help develop a community mindset of zero tolerance for illegal chemical use by teens. Reduce the Use is a project of Hopkins Schools, ISD 270. http://reducetheuse.org/home.html

The NSDUH Report: Underage Drinking in Rural Areas
SAMHSA Office of Applied Studies (via Join Together)
This short report is based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, formerly called the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NHSDA/NSDUH) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
To visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Web site, click here.

"Young Brains at Risk of Damage from Heavy Drinking"
Join Together Direct Newsletter
An overview of research that shows heavy drinking is especially dangerous for teenagers whose brains are still developing, and alcohol-related damage incurred at a young age can have long-term effects, researchers say.

Alcohol Compliance Check Data
What are alcohol compliance checks?

A compliance check is a tool to identify alcohol establishments that sell alcohol to underage youth. A person under age 21 attempts to purchase or order an alcoholic beverage while a law enforcement officer observes or waits outside the premises. The underage person is instructed to refrain from attempting to look older and lying about their age or using a false ID.

If the young person is successful in purchasing the alcohol, the enforcement agent issues a criminal citation to the clerk or server and an administrative citation on the alcohol license holder. Compliance checks can be mandated by a local ordinance or voluntarily implemented by law enforcement or licensing authorities.

The U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the University of Minnesota Alcohol Epidemiology Program have studied the research on compliance checks. The organizations have concluded that compliance checks are an important tool to enforce laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol to underage persons, and they recommend that regular checks be incorporated into an overall community intervention plan. The agencies found that compliance checks:

Encourage alcohol licensees to police themselves.
May reduce crime and alcohol-related problems, such as traffic crashes, fights, vandalism, noise complaints, and other police calls.
Easy, quick, and inexpensive to implement.
Can motivate citizen participation and support for reducing youth access to alcohol, sending a strong message that providing alcohol to underage persons is not acceptableCompliance checks are a process where police departments arrange to have minors attempt to purchase alcohol without a legal identification.

The compliance check rate indicates the rate of "successful" under-age purchases within a community.

Contact your local Chief of Police or Sheriff's Department and request information about your community's latest alcohol compliance check results.

Resources for Conducting Compliance Checks:

» printer friendly version