Party Girls

This weekend I saw a really interesting news report about teen girls and underage drinking. I wanted to share a few of the things I learned and see if you all agree. It was on www.todayshow.com and they talked to Kylee Darcy, 18, who won a contest for creating a public service announcement on this topic. You can see her video at www.alot2lose.com . They also spoke with an expert from the Center on Addiction.

Here are a few points they brought up:

• 25% of teens consume alcohol by the age of 13.
• Girls are 7 times more likely to give into peer pressure.
• When they drink, 1 in 4 girls engage in binge drinking (which means 5 or more drinks in one sitting).
• Boys and girls drink for different reasons. Girls drink to enhance their mood, feel sexier, reduce stress and to keep up with the image that party girls have more fun.
• The media has done a great job of promoting the ‘bad girl’ as the cool one, the sexy one, and the one girls look up to.
• It’s easy to think of the obvious effects of drinking, such as drunk driving or death, but teens often forget the social consequences. See an example of this in Kylee’s video.

Since I’m not a teen right now, I’d love to hear what you’re seeing. Do you agree with what they said? Is this what you see happening at your middle and high school?