DO YOU SPEAK “TEEN”?

MNe Ps dnt bleev der is a gNR8N d/c b/t em n thr teen. (Text Message Translation: Many parents don’t believe there is a generation disconnect between them and their teen.) How much do parents really know about their teen’s world? Especially as teens adapt to new technologies so quickly?

Unfortunately, parents still see only a glimpse of the world in which their teens live. The numbers are alarming:

• 80% of parents believe drugs and alcohol are usually not available at parties their teens attend, but the reality is sobering: 50% of teen partygoers attend parties where alcohol, drugs or both are available.1

• Prescription drugs, illegally used to get high, are the second most abused type of drug by teens, right behind marijuana.2

• The story isn’t much different online: Three-fourths of teens report that their parents “almost never” monitor the Web sites they frequent or the time they spend online.3

There is good news. The majority of teens still report that their parents—not their peers or the media—have the biggest influence on their decision to stay drug-free. To learn more about how parents like you are connecting better with their teens, try these Action Items and report back at www.TheAntiDrug.com/ParentChronicles:

• Type “smoking weed” into a Web search engine and see what your teen is exposed to.

• Find out what the drug slang terms—”blazed,” “xanibars,” “a blunt” and “robotripping”—really mean.

• Type the name of your teen’s high school into the “search” bar of a popular teen social networking site and browse the profiles.

Teens may be a hard study, but knowing more about their world—and the pressures and influences surrounding them—will help you connect better with your child and help keep him or her healthy and drug-free.

For more tips on keeping your teen drug-free, visit www.TheAntiDrug.com/ParentChronicles or call 1-800-788-2800.

CTCADA offers both adolescent intervention and treatment programs. Education, individual counseling, family therapy, group counseling and referral to other resources are all part of a comprehensive effort to prevent or intervene in youth alcohol and drug abuse. Call us at 254-690-4455!

(Footnotes)

1 The National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XI: Teens and Parents. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, August 2006.

2 Monitoring the Future, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2006.

3 Teen Media: Parental Monitoring of the Internet, The TRU Study, Fall 2006 Wave 48. TRU, 2006.