“Not my kid” is a myth that must end

By Rebecca Smith

One of the things parents across the region tell me when I encourage them to talk to their children about their disapproval of underage drinking and the dangers is that their kids already “know better.”

Of course we always want to assume the best about our children. And I would believe the parents who say there’s no way that their kids drink — if research didn’t say otherwise.

Only 10 percent of parents think their own teens (ages 13 to 17) drank alcohol within the last year, according to a 2011 poll by the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

Unfortunately, that’s not what teens in East Texas say.

The average age of first use in this area is 12.9 years old, according to the 2014 Texas School survey, conducted by Texas A&M University. About 38 percent of East Texas kids had their first drink when they were younger than 13.

Interestingly, the University of Michigan poll found that parents of teens are also “very likely to believe that 60 percent of 10th graders drank alcohol in the last year.”

So parents know that teens drink—just not “their” teen.

In East Texas, 20.7 percent of 7th through 12th graders drink alcohol regularly, and 35.8 percent of 12th graders do. Even more frightening is the fact that 30.3 percent of 12th graders report regular “high-risk” or binge drinking.

So how do we reconcile the fact that only 10 percent of parents think that their kid is drinking? A big percentage of parents are going to be pretty disappointed. What’s more, only 46.3 percent of East Texas 12th graders reported that their parents “strongly disapproved” of kids their age drinking alcohol.

Parents, does this new information make you suspicious? There’s hope! Research shows that parents who talk to their kids early and often, and who give a strong disapproval message against drinking, have teens who are less likely to drink.

“Teens are much less likely to drink if their parents tell them underage drinking is completely unacceptable,” according to a 2014 survey from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

“The online survey of 663 U.S. high school students found only 8 percent of teens who said their parents thought underage drinking was unacceptable were drinkers themselves. In contrast, 42 percent of teens who said their parents believed underage drinking was somewhat unacceptable, or completely acceptable, were drinkers. Teens whose parents told them underage drinking is completely unacceptable are 80 percent less likely to drink, compared with those whose parents give their teens’ other messages about drinking, the survey found.”

Unfortunately, 28.6 percent of local students reported their parents either haven’t talked to them about drinking or they didn’t remember if they had.

Here are some more tips for talking to your kids about drinking...

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Rebecca Smith is a certified prevention specialist and coalition coordinator for the Northeast Texas Coalition Against Substance Abuse, a program of Next Step Community Solutions.