Washington, D.C., August 17. Parents are the single most important factor in determining a teenager's drinking and illegal drug use, said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., president and chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. Califano wants to wake parents up to their "denial, self-delusion and lack of awareness" at putting their own teens at enormous risk.
The absence of parents at teen parties "virtually assures the presence of alcohol and drugs," said Califano, who was U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Carter Administration.
"Teens who say parents are not present at the parties they attend are 16 times likelier to say alcohol is available, 15 times likelier to say illegal drugs are available, and 29 times likelier to say marijuana is available, compared to teens who say parents are always present at the parties they attend."
This finding is from a 2006 national survey of teens' and parents' attitudes of substance abuse, which CASA has conducted annually for the past 11 years, and was released today.
Even the presence of parents at teen parties is far from being an effective deterrent to drinking and illegal drug use. "One-third of teen partygoers have been to parties where teens were drinking alcohol, smoking pot, or using cocaine, Ecstasy or prescription drugs, while a parent was present (emphasis added)," said Califano. This percent rises to nearly half (46 percent) by age 17.
"[Parents] have no idea how drug- and alcohol-infested their teens' world is," said Califano. Most parents (80%) believe that neither alcohol nor marijuana is usually available at parties their teens attend, but 50 percent of teen partygoers attend parties where alcohol, drugs (including marijuana), or both are available.
The parental self-denial is apparent from one of the survey's finding. Some 99 percent of parents say they would not be willing to serve alcohol at their teen's party. But this is hard to believe when 28 percent of teen partygoers say they have been to parties at a home where parents were present and teens were drinking alcohol.
'Helicopter' Parents Don't Get It
In the question and answer period, Califano speculated on the cause for parental behavior and unawareness of their teen's risk of substance abuse. Sometimes parents want to be "pals" with their teens. "If parents consistently are getting along with their teenage, then something is wrong," he warned. He worries that what he referred to as "helicopter parents," will "hover" over their teens without seeing the risks surrounding them.
The parent-teen disconnect is rife through the data. Since 1995, the survey has consistently found that the number one concern of teenagers is drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. This year the percent was 27. Yet, only 12 percent of parents see drugs as their teen's greatest concern.
A decade of CASA's Teen Surveys show that teens with parents who are fully engaged in their children's lives (e.g., helping with homework, family dinners) are less likely to smoke, drink, or use drugs.
Califano would like to see parents take a more active role in removing drugs in the schools. They object to sending their son or daughter to a school that has asbestos, but may have no qualms about sending their teen to a school where they know drugs are used, kept, or sold, he said.
Why do parents have more influence than any other factor in their teen's use of alcohol and drugs? Parents play a key role in their child's development of a sense of morality. Teens who believe marijuana use by their peers as "morally wrong" are 19 times less likely to try the drug than teens who believe it is not morally wrong.
The CASA's Teen Survey from last year supports this finding. It found that most teens say that the Law and legal considerations don't have any effect on their decision to smoke, drink, and use drugs. However, teens who believe their parents would be extremely upset if they used marijuana or drank alcohol are much less likely to do so.
Other Key Findings
While the focus of CASA's 11th survey is on teens and parents, there were other striking results that impact the risks to teens for substance abuse. Here are three:
• Hispanic and African American 12- and 13-year olds are being offered illegal drugs at three times the rate of white 12- and 13-year old (20 percent vs 7 percent)
• Ten million 12- to 17-year olds (38 percent) say they can buy marijuana within a day, and 5 million (19 percent) can buy marijuana within an hour.
• The majority of high school students (51 percent) and one in five middle school students (20 percent) attend a school where "drugs are used, kept, or sold."
This 11th survey of CASA surveyed by telephone 1297 teens, age 12 to 17, and 562 parents of teens, 84 percent of whom were parents of teens who completed the survey. The margin error for total percents reported is ±3 percent.
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