April is the designated month for alcohol awareness and underage drinking prevention – and rightly so, considering that this is the traditional season for proms, graduations and gatherings to celebrate the return of spring.

What exactly is awareness and how does it impact the decision-making of the youth in our communities? Awareness can be many things – knowledge of the physical effects of alcohol, media literacy around advertising, recognizing when alcohol use is a problem in oneself and others, awareness of laws around underage drinking, and how to withstand peer pressure to use alcohol.

According to the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey administered to area youth in grades 9 through 12, 76% reported having used alcohol at least once. Forty-seven percent reported use during the previous 30 days, and 31% of those youth had ingested five or more drinks at a time (the definition of binge drinking). Twenty-four percent had ridden in a car with someone who had been drinking and 11% reported having driven themselves after drinking.     

Clearly, we still have work to do in raising awareness about the dangers of alcohol use, and in communicating cultural disapproval of underage drinking -- the two most important indicators of prevention efficacy.

According to the current research, roughly 10% of adolescents who begin using alcohol or other drugs become dependent and, it’s pretty safe to say, that none begins using alcohol with the intention of becoming dependent.

Alcohol is attractive for many reasons. Kids use it because:

• it’s a new and novel experience
• it’s a social lubricant
• it’s forbidden
• because of peer pressure
• because of cultural norms and industry advertising
• because they are in emotional pain 
• because they lack meaningful connections with responsible adults 
• and because adolescence is an ordeal for even the most well-adjusted kids

If we focus on the reasons why adolescents use alcohol, we can begin to raise awareness in a meaningful way. Communication skills, adult support and attention, media literacy, understanding of peer pressure, modeling acceptance of emotional pain, substance-free activities, and acknowledgement of the challenges of being an adolescent are all ways we can cultivate awareness, and promote environments that are supportive of healthful relationships and decisions.

Posted on the CPC website (www.cpcnh.org) are suggested activities from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence for students, educators, parents, policy-makers and others to promote healthy decision-making around alcohol use. Also posted is an alcohol screening self-test from Boston University School of Public Health. 

Our resource page has links to many helpful sites for youths, parents, educators, counselors and others interested in learning about substance abuse prevention.

Below are some national statistics on alcohol use and its effects on young people from mentalhealthscreening.org.

 Harmful Effects of Alcohol

• Alcohol–related crashes (i.e., those in which a driver or pedestrian had a blood alcohol concentration [BAC] greater than zero) account for 41 percent of all fatal car accidents.  
   
• Alcohol use contributes to a range of chronic health consequences including cancer and cardiovascular disease.  
   
• Alcohol use has been associated with increased risk of traumatic injury including: motor vehicle crashes, bicycling accidents, pedestrians, falls, fires, injuries in sports and recreational activities, interpersonal violence, and self–inflicted injuries.
   
• The economic costs of alcohol abuse in the United States are estimated to be approximately $185 billion annually.

Alcohol and Youth

• Young persons reporting first use of alcohol before age 15 were more than 5 times as likely to have past alcohol dependence or abuse compared with persons who first used alcohol at age 21 or older (16 % vs. 3%)
• Approximately 20% of 8th graders, 35% of 10th graders, and 48% of 12th graders report having consumed alcohol during the past month.
   
• About 12% of 8th, 22% of 10th, and 28% of 12th graders report binge drinking (five or more drinks on a single occasion during the past two weeks).
   
• Almost 40% of high school seniors perceive no great risk in consuming four to five drinks nearly every day.

Alcohol and College Students

• In 2002, 64% of full-time college students (aged 18-22) reported consuming at least one alcoholic drink in the past 30 days.
• Over 44% of full-time college students reported consuming five or more drinks on the same occasion at least once in the past 30 days. 
   
• 1400 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes.
   
• More than 600,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted each year by another student who has been drinking.
   
• For support or information about substance abuse prevention strategies, call the CPC office at 924-4981, or stop by the office to peruse the resource library at 40 Grove Street in Peterborough.