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Wyo teens choose liquor over beer
Friday, July 27, 2007
When Wyoming teens drink -- and they do so more often than
their peers in most other states -- twice as many choose
hard liquor as choose beer or a malt beverage.
A
study
released today by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention says that of the 45 percent of Wyoming teens
who said they had drunk alcohol at least once in the month
prior to a survey, two in five said they usually drank hard
liquor.
One in five drank beer and one in five drank a malt
beverage, such as Smirnoff Ice or a hard lemonade. Fewer
drank wine coolers, wine or another type of alcohol.
The report says students may choose hard liquor above other
alcoholic beverages because of its stronger ethanol
concentration, and because it's easy to mix with soft
drinks, which may taste better and make the alcohol easier
to conceal.
These same factors may cause students to drink more alcohol
at a faster rate than they would with other types of drinks,
increasing the risk for effects like alcohol poisoning, the
report said.
Having this information may be useful in planning underage
drinking prevention strategies, the report said.
First lady Nancy Freudenthal, who leads an initiative
against childhood drinking in Wyoming, said she was not
surprised by the preference for hard liquor. She was
surprised by gender differences -- 45 percent of boys prefer
hard liquor, while only 35 percent of girls do. Girls' next
preference was malt beverages, at 30 percent.
Sweet, fruity, colorful malt beverages have appeal to girls,
"and that has brought girls into higher drinking prevalence
than it might be otherwise if we didn't have those products
on the market," Freudenthal said.
Freudenthal said when she was young, it seemed teens didn't
care for hard liquor as much.
"The ads you saw for liquor did not really have a youth
appeal. You saw the older man holding a martini."
She said the findings should concern parents because of
liquor's high alcohol content.
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey was given in 2005 to 2,500
Wyoming high school students. In nine other states, more
students reported "current alcohol use" than in Wyoming.
Only three other states had more students who reported
episodic heavy drinking, or binge drinking.
"Our numbers are still too high," Freudenthal said.
"Culturally and environmentally we have too many signals
that are going to our kids that suggest that alcohol is not
a problem."
She said parents should consider three As when guarding
against liquor use: be awake when your child comes home, be
alert to their physical state, and be aware of whom they are
hanging out with.
While it's difficult, Freudenthal said families should
establish clear policies against underage drinking with no
mixed signals, such as saying drinking is OK at home.
"It's tough because parents want to keep their kids safe
more than keep them sober. My policy is, aim for both,
expect both, and set that as the ground rules for your
child." |
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