Federal Report Addressing the National Crisis with Underage Drinking
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Kids at risk, and the dangers of drinking-
Researchers find three chromosomal areas with links to alcoholism vulnerability  

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Children of Parents with Alcohol& Drug  Addiction

Below are excerpts from this download of the full NIAAA Brochure for
Parents to use in Talking to their kids about Alcohol.

Download and print the entire document in  .pdf   here    Get free .pdf reader software from www.adobe.com

Good Reasons Not to Drink. In talking with your child about reasons to avoid alcohol, stay away from scare tactics. Most young teens are aware that many people drink without problems, so it is important to discuss the consequences of alcohol use without overstating the case. For example, you can talk about the dangers of riding in a car with a driver who has been drinking without insisting that “all kids who ride with drinkers get into crashes.” Some good reasons that teens shouldn’t drink:

• You want your child to avoid alcohol. Be sure to clearly state your own expectations regarding your child’s drinking and to establish consequences for breaking rules. Your values and attitudes count with your child, even though he or she may not always show it.
• To maintain self-respect. In a series of focus groups, teens reported that the best way to persuade them to avoid alcohol is to appeal to their self-respect—letting them know that they are too smart and have too much going for them to need the crutch of alcohol. Teens also pay attention to ways in which alcohol might cause them to do something embarrassing that might damage their self-respect and important relationships.
• Drinking is illegal. Because alcohol use under the age of 21 is illegal, getting caught may mean trouble with the authorities. Even if getting caught doesn’t lead to police action, the parents of your child’s friends may no longer permit them to associate with your child. If drinking occurs on school grounds, your child could be suspended.
• Drinking can be dangerous. One of the leading causes of teen deaths is motor vehicle crashes involving alcohol. Drinking also makes a young person more vulnerable to sexual assault and unprotected sex. And while your teen may believe he or she wouldn’t engage in hazardous activities after drinking, point out that because alcohol impairs judgment, a drinker is very likely to think such activities won’t be dangerous.
• You have a family history of alcoholism. If one or more members of your immediate or extended family has suffered from alcoholism, your child may be somewhat more vulnerable to developing a drinking problem. Your child needs to know that for him or her, drinking may carry special risks.

How to Handle Peer Pressure. It’s not enough to tell your young teen that he or she should avoid alcohol—you also need to help your child figure out how. What can your daughter say when she goes to a party and a friend offers her a beer? (See “Six Ways to Say No to a Drink.”) Or what should your son do if he finds himself in a home where kids are passing around a bottle of wine and parents are nowhere in sight? What should their response be if they are offered a ride home with an older friend who has been drinking?

Brainstorm with your teen for ways that he or she might handle these and other difficult situations, and make clear how you are willing to support your child. An example: “If you find yourself at a home where kids are drinking, call me and I’ll pick you up—and there will be no scolding or punishment.” The more prepared your child is, the better able he or she will be to handle high-pressure situations that involve drinking.

Other NIAAA Info of Interest

Tenth Special Report

Perhaps the single greatest influence on the scope and direction of alcohol research
has been the finding that a portion of the vulnerability to alcoholism is genetic. This
finding, more than any other, helped to establish the biological basis of alcoholism.
It also provided the basis—and justification—for much of the progress in genetics,
neuroscience, and neurobehavior described in the Tenth Special Report. Today we
know that approximately 50 to 60 percent of the risk for developing alcoholism is
genetic. Genes direct the synthesis of proteins, and it is the proteins that drive and
regulate critical chemical reactions throughout the human body. Genetics, therefore,
affects virtually every facet of alcohol research, from neuroscience to Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome. It is clear from the findings presented in the Tenth Special Report that
although much remains to be discovered, progress has been made toward understanding
how genes are involved in the etiology of alcohol use problems, including
how genes interact with other genes and with the environment to produce disease.