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Teen drinking habits influenced by TV, parents

   A recent study suggests that television shows and ads can influence teenagers to drink alcohol, but that parents may actually play the decisive role.

Dr. Erica Weintraub Austin, a media researcher at the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications at Washington State University, studied nearly 600 ninth- and 12th-graders to determine drinking habits and potential causes.

There's no doubt that a significant percentage of kids are drinking. Austin's data revealed that about two-thirds of the teens had had at least one drink of alcohol in the six months prior to the study, while about one-third had had four alcoholic beverages in a row at least once during that time. Equally disturbing, about one-third of the kids said they had ridden in a car with a drinking driver.

One of the contributing factors appeared to be television, especially when the messages on TV shows or commercials made the teens feel that drinking would make them happier or more popular.

Austin said kids "are vulnerable to wishful thinking, and the ads play right into that by showing them all the great things that are supposed to happen when you drink alcohol."

This influence on teen attitudes begins early. "We think this study and others are making it pretty clear that the media can prime children to drink long before they have the opportunity to do so," Austin said.

The researcher, however, said that parents played an important role in either encouraging or discouraging their children to drink. In fact, the study showed that parents who take a critical position concerning television programming usually pass that on to their kids, and their teens are less likely to drink.

Austin said it was important that parents helped kids "see the fallacies in alcohol portrayals that seem desirable but are untrue or misleading."

The study should encourage parents, said University of California at Santa Barbara media researcher Dale Kunkel. "This shows parents' comments do matter, he said. "You shouldn't give up in the face of an obstinate adolescent who on the surface seems to be rejecting your comments. He may be absorbing it in a way you don't appreciate."

Source: Reuters, 2/7/00; USA Today, 2/8/00

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