Greenville Family Partnership

Underage Drinking

It is a problem in communities across the nation and Greenville County, South Carolina is no exception. Since its inception, Greenville Family Partnership (GFP) has advocated for the prevention of underage alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and abuse.

GFP has always provided alcohol awareness education and prevention programs to schools, churches, businesses, and various other organizations in Greenville County. But for the past several years, GFP has sponsored several alcohol forums to inform and enlighten adolescents, parents, and other concerned individuals about the civil, criminal, and medical consequences of underage alcohol use, abuse, and addiction in our community.

What's New?

• Hello Kitty is now selling a line of branded wines, which include bottles adorned with Hello Kitty images, hearts, and neck hangers with Hello Kitty miniature dolls. Although the tagline for these products is "Our favorite girl has grown up", there is some concern that these products may appeal to underage drinkers. [Join Together]

• Past-month alcohol use is up 11% among students in grades 9-12 and there is a growing belief in the benefits & acceptability of drug use & drinking. The number of teens that agreed "being high feels good" rose from 45% in 2008 to 51% in 2009, and those who said "friends usually get high at parties" increased from 69% to 75%. [Partnership for a Drug-Free America]

• 20% of parents believe their teens have gone beyond the experimental phase in alcohol use. But half of these parents did not take any action (25%) or waited a month to a year to address it (22%). Some parents are more likely to believe all teens experiment with drugs and that occasional use of alcohol or marijuana is tolerable. [PDFA]

• 8.6% of past-month drinkers aged 12-20 purchased their own alcohol the last time they drank. [Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration]

• The amount of alcohol consumed is directly related to the drinking habits of your social group. Individuals who have friends or relatives who drink heavily are 50% more likely to drink heavily themselves. Moreover, having a friend of a friend who drinks heavily influences individual alcohol consumption. [Join Together]

• Kids whose parents allow them to watch R-rated movies are more likely to drink than their peers: 24.4% of middle-schoolers allowed to watch R-rated movies drank, compared to 18.8% who were allowed to watch them sometimes, 12.5% who watched them occasionally, and 2.9% whose parents never permitted them to watch such movies. [Dartmouth Medical School]

Underage Drinking Reports:

• National Survey of Parent and Teen Attitudes on Substance Abuse 2009
• National Parent and Teen Attitudinal Tracking Survey 2009
• Teens and Technology: Online Exposure
• Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year Olds
• Teens and Sexting: How and Why Minor Teens are Sending Sexually Suggestive, Nude or Nearly Nude Images via Text Messaging
• The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking
• Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility
• South Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2009: Middle and High School Students

Links:

• Alcohol and Us / Michigan State
• AMA Alcohol Policy
• Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth
• College Drinking, Changing the Culture
• Face Project (FACE and MADD joined forces to create this store.)
• Monitoring the Future
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
• Why 21.org