Originally published January 10 2006
Survey find teenage girls drink as much alcohol as teenage boys
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A new survey paid for by the Century Council has discovered that teenage girls drink as much alcohol as teenage boys, but their habit often escapes the notice of parents.
Teenage girls are drinking as much alcohol as teenage boys, but their mothers don't realize it and often fail to discourage it, according to a new national survey by a distillers' group.
The survey found 16 percent of girls ages 13 to 15 said they drink with friends, but only 5 percent of their mothers think their daughters are drinking.
Both figures double when the daughters are 16 to 18.
Paid for by The Century Council, an effort by distillers to combat drunken driving and underage drinking, the new survey questioned 496 daughters and 379 mothers of teenage girls, 322 of them matching.
It found that 49 percent of mothers think teen drinking is acceptable under certain conditions, and that most don't realize the health risks stemming from the fact that girls metabolize alcohol differently than boys.
The council, along with the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Players' Association and the Society for Women's Health Research are starting a national campaign, "Girl Talk," to encourage mothers to talk to their daughters about the consequences of drinking.
Girls who don't drink said they are afraid of drinking because they worry about losing control, making bad choices and embarrassing themselves.
Mothers worry more about the dangers of drunken driving.
Anthony Wolf, a clinical psychologist who writes books on parenting, said that even though daughters may roll their eyes and complain about being lectured, "it's important to have these conversations [about not drinking] because they want as much information as they can get.
The campaign urges mothers to "be parents, not friends," and not to lecture or overreact but to talk personally about their own life stories and experiences or what happened to their friends who drank.
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