Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

Galvanized by this finding, she and a small group of otherhigh school parents produced a 28-page booklet, A Parent’sGuide for the Prevention of Alcohol, Tobacco, and OtherDrug Use, that has since sold nearly a million copies. 14 Itopens with this strong, research-based admonition:When teens are allowed to drink at home, they are morelikely to use alcohol and other drugs outside the homeAND are at risk to develop serious behavioral and healthproblems related to substance abuse. 15Does research offer parents any guidance concerningtheir teenagers’ friendship and dating patterns? Forexample, is it a good idea for young adolescents to havean older boyfriend or girlfriend? Studies show it’s risky.Data from the National Longitudinal Study of AdolescentHealth on the sexual behavior of young adolescents indicatethat among 12 to 14-year-olds, only 13% of same-agerelationships involve sexual intercourse.But if the partner is two yearsolder, 26% of the relationships involvesex, and if the partner is three ormore years older, fully a third of therelationships involve sex. 16The likelihood that a girl will use alcohol,tobacco, or illegal drugs, or getdrunk, also increases when her boyfriend is two or moreyears older. According to Columbia University’s NationalCenter on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 17 girls whoseboyfriends are two or more years older, as compared togirls with boyfriends less than two years older (includingIt is not the mountainwe conquer, butourselves.those without boyfriends) are:◆ 6 times likelier to get drunk◆ 6 times likelier to have tried marijuana◆ more than 4 times as likely to smoke cigarettes.The teens least likely to engage inrisky behavior have parents whomonitor their activities in ageappropriateways.What about spending a lot of time with a boyfriend orgirlfriend? The research indicates that steady dating significantlyincreases the likelihood of sexual intercourse. 18—SIR EDMUND HILLARYCHAPTER 3: The Ethical Learning CommunityWhat if your child’s friends view pornography (theColumbia University study found that45% of teens say they have friends whoregularly view and download pornographyfrom the Internet)? Teens who saythat half or more of their friends downloadpornography from the Internet,are three times more likely to smoke,drink, and use illegal drugs than teenswho have no such friends.Researchers call these correlated behaviors—such as viewingpornography, having sex, smoking, and drinking—“the cluster effect.” Any given risk behavior tends to combinewith other risk behaviors.The more teens have dinner with theirparents, the less likely teens are tosmoke, drink or do drugs.The research therefore clearly points to the importanceof parental vigilance about the friends their kids are keepingand how they spend their time. Bolstering that guidelineis the conclusion of Building a Better Teenager, a 2002Child Trends report based on hundreds of studies: Themost academically motivated and socially responsible teens—and the ones least likely to engage in risky behavior—are thosewho enjoy warm and involved relationships with their parentsand whose parents monitor their activities in age-appropriateways. 19Still another research finding that schools would do wellto share with families: The more often children have dinnerwith their parents, the less likely youth are to smoke,drink, or use illegal drugs. 2041Smart & Good High Schools