Study: Parents unaware of substance abuse

A new study examining alcohol and drug use among pre-teens and teenagers found parents know little about what their children are doing and the influences to which they are being exposed.

The study, by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, or CASA, initially focused on what is happening at teen parties. But it revealed startling facts about drugs in the public schools.

"Teen drinking and drugging is a parent problem. [Parents] have no idea how drug- and alcohol-infested their teens' world is," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's chairman and president and former U.S. secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

"The denial, self-delusion and lack of awareness of these parental palookas put their children at enormous risk of drinking and using illegal and prescription drugs," he said.

The survey, examining the transition between ages 13 and 14, found 14-year-olds were three times more likely to be offered Ecstasy and two times more likelier to be offered cocaine. It concluded the move from age 13 to 14 "is the biggest drug divide of all the teen years."

The survey noted that 55 percent of American teenagers ages 12 to 17 "fall into the high or moderate substance-abuse risk categories."

More than half of the high-schoolers studied say they attend a school where drugs are used, kept or sold. And for the first time in the 11 years the survey has been conducted, girls have an equal or higher substance abuse risk compared to boys of the same age.

A homeschooling group, the Morningstar Educational Network, is using the results of the survey to point parents in the direction of homeschooling. The organization sponsors Considering Homeschooling Ministry and its website to encourage Christian parents to educate their kids at home.

"The peer pressure to drink alcohol, use drugs and engage in sexual activity in teen years is incredible," said Denise Kanter, Morningstar's research adviser. "Christian parents need to protect their children from secular influences of school peers and teach their children at home."

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