Influencing Conversations

To commemorate National Alcohol Awareness Month, this year, we’ve developed a two-part blog series to review the effects of underage drinking on adolescent development, both physiological and emotional. In the first issue in the series, we outlined the negative health consequences of underage drinking including long term harm to the developing teenage brain and the role of alcohol impairment in risky decision making. Underage drinking affects the healthy development of the brain and can impact a teen’s ability to reach his or her goals.

This week, we’ll explore the influences, positive expectations, and other risk factors associated with underage drinking and talk about best practices for talking to teens about refusing alcohol use and staying on track to success in life.

As children mature into adolescence, they spend increasingly more time with friends and less time with parents and siblings. As such, their spheres of influence change shaping their attitudes and expectations in the process. While their social dynamics are shifting, the development of the brain is ongoing, prompting additional drives for risk taking, demonstrating independence, and challenging conventions. Simultaneously, the centers of the brain responsible for critical thinking and decision making are still under development fostering more impulsive behavior.

Teens sometimes experiment with alcohol in an effort to “fit in” in social situations

With the additional independence afforded teenagers, exposure to more external influences on their behavior, attitudes, and intentions via online advertisements and mature content in entertainment as well as the social influences of their peers are risk factors for negative behaviors like underage drinking. Influences like peer behavior and glamorizing portrayals of alcohol use promote positive expectations and favorable norms of alcohol use. Teens sometimes experiment with alcohol in an effort to “fit in” in social situations. Social pressures whether intrinsic or extrinsic can overpower healthy no-use norms if the teen isn’t prepared to counter those influences.

Establishing and modeling healthy norms at home around alcohol and other risky behaviors from a young age sets a powerful protective barrier to equip teens to resist calls to engage. Ongoing self-efficacy development to focus priorities on short- and long-term goals, emotion management skills and positive peer bonding can positively influence decision making and prepare adolescents to resist negative behaviors.

Equipping children with skills, strategies, and knowledge to resist alcohol use empowers them to make healthy decisions that are consistent with their long-term goals even when immediate pressures pull them toward use.

Engage in regular dialog with your teen about the goals they’d like to achieve and explain the ways in which the health and situational consequences of drinking alcohol can compromise those goals. Talking with your teen frequently about the negative consequences of alcohol use and providing them with ample opportunities to practice refusal skills will build muscle memory, making it easier for them to act responsibly when they are faced with strong influences.

emphasize alternative ways to socialize, build one’s confidence, or demonstrate maturity

Challenge any misplaced expectations about alcohol use your teens have and discuss alternatives to alcohol use. For instance, the misplaced expectations that alcohol use makes us more confident or more sociable or feel more mature are promoted independently of the risks associated with alcohol use. As you talk with your teen, emphasize alternative ways to socialize, build one’s confidence, or demonstrate maturity with suggestions for taking on more responsibility at home or at school. Local community projects offer extensive opportunities for social engagement with benefits for long term academic and professional development opportunities.

Check in with your teen regularly about how they can reach their short-term and long-term goals, and collaborate with them on how to stay on track and tackle challenges. Encourage your teen to see the connections between the small decisions they make each day and their ability to achieve long term goals. Highlight the importance of taking the time to think through the consequences of the choices they face. Let your teen know that you are available to talk through choices and bounce ideas about decisions big or small.

When you notice a glamorized portrayal of alcohol use on television, in a magazine, or online, use it as a prompt to start a discussion about the risks associated with underage drinking. Ask your teen why the show or music video isn’t showing anyone with impaired motor control or slurred speech. Talk with your teen about the damage to the brain when alcohol is consumed and explain that damage to the developing brain can hold a person back from achieving their fullest potential.

Draw connections to the goals your teen is working to achieve. Be ready to listen rather than lecture and use open-ended question prompts. Make clear to your teen know that you want to help them succeed in life. Show interest in your teen’s daily ups and downs and talk about healthy ways to cope with stress, celebrate special occasions, and tackle boredom. Never refer to alcohol as a way to relax or cope with stressful situations. Share examples of your own healthy stress reduction tactics and talk openly about how going for a walk or taking some time out to listen to music effectively helps to reduce feelings of stress. Frequently practicing and modeling healthy responses to life’s obstacles will create a positive normative environment at home.

The teen years are a critical time in human development and alcohol consumption can jeopardize healthy emotional and physical development in the short and long term. Parents and educators can positively influence a teen’s decision to engage in negative behaviors by maintaining an ongoing dialog and encouraging teens to consider the consequences of their daily decisions. These frequent conversations, combined with protective factors, enhance a teen’s ability to resist substance use and other problem behaviors. Influencing and ongoing conversations strengthen bonds and promote a teen’s ability to make healthy choices and forge a positive life path.