My Thoughts on “How NOT to Raise a College Binge Drinker”
Some parents believe that one way to prevent their children from binge drinking in college is to allow them to drink in high school. (I guess their thinking is that by letting their teens “practice” drinking in high school, they won’t overdo it when they find themselves on campus — especially if they’re at one of the top party schools, free of parental supervision.)
One way that parents do this is by hosting parties for teens and serving alcohol.
But, a new report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism challenges the idea that prior experience drinking in high school will prevent teens from going overboard in college.
The article, How NOT to Raise a College Binge Drinker highlights research from the Prevention Research and Methodology Center at Pennsylvania State University that says parents who allow their teens to drink alcohol in high school are not preventing them from abusing alcohol when they get to college.
So what is effective in preventing alcohol abuse in college? Parental disapproval of drinking. Don’t just assume that your kids “know” you don’t want them to drink — make it clear by telling them. Some parents have even found it helpful to write the rules out in a contract that they sign with their child.
Teens who were allowed to drink at fairly high levels were more likely to be binge drinkers in college than their peers who had not been allowed to drink, or whose parents had set comparably low limits for what they considered to be acceptable drinking behavior.
The findings led to the conclusion that parents allowing alcohol consumption during the later years of high school was actually a significant risk factor for alcohol misuse and its consequences in college.
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VERY WELL PUT!!! - As the mother of a (deceased son)….who died in crash with a very high blood alcohol level……He was a freshman in college….I did not allow drinking in my home…and I look back on his high school years….should I have said more??? should I have been VERY vocal…??? He died at 18…..kids need to understand that life is about CHOICES….some you learn from…and some can cost you your life….Communication I believe is key in raising teens today….allowing them to drink as high schoolers to me would just fuel the fire…..I hope communities will pull together to educate parents (and teens) on this “fatal” attraction….I am very involved where I live in trying to prevent underage drinking….for my son, it’s too late….but maybe someone else’s son can learn from my experience….
GREAT article, thank you.
Ahhh yes the gateway to all drugs……Alcohol!! But if you just don’t pick up the first drink you have half a chance…..but you must build the defense against the first drink.
Thanks for your post. A lot of people don’t think of alcoholism as a disease, but it is, and it affects millions of people each year. It is also becoming more and more prevalent on college campuses where kids binge drink several nights a week.
Whether or not you let your kids drink in high school is not going to change whether or not they drink or binge drink in college. MOST kids are going to party and drink anyway, regardless of what high school was like. In fact since i didnt drink in high school i felt comnpelled to drink more and more often in college to make up for lost time. There really isnt much you can do to stop it. Just make sure they know not to drive and they’ll be ok.