A question about teens and drugs & alcohol

[amy g.]

I read the blog that Joanne posted about a mother whose son is in critical condition. It is haunting me.

 

My best friends son has recently been hospitalized for depression and drug abuse, so I'm thinking about this issue a lot right now.

 

I know that my own brother started drinking at 10. Thankfully, he celebrated one year of sobriety last week.

 

Is there any research or statistics that indicate that a child who has not experimented with drugs and alcohol before the age of 18 is less likely to become addicted, than another child with similar risk factors that started earlier?

[LibraryLover]

I've known people who didn't start drinking until they left home (college, move, etc). I think some people can go through an experiement/binge stage and be ok, and others can't. I don't know what the stats are, but one of the biggest alcoholics/addicts I know didn't have a sip of alcohol until after they turned 20.

 

I also know a fantastic, close family (highly educated parents, mother worked at home blah blah) whose child tried meth around his 18 th b'day, and has never been the same since. (He's in his late 20's now).

 

I wish there was a magic formula to keep all children safe.

[Peela]

Nothing is fullproof unfortunately.

I have heard that they dont recommend kids even have small sips of wine from their parent's glasses anymore because it suppsedly is more likely to lead to alcohol issues later. My family all drank a fair bit- both sides. I passed out drunk at my christening from all the people who let me have a sip as a toddler. All my childhood, I was allowed to have a sip, and as a teenager, a small glass. I never drank more than a couple of times a year as an adult, and I think I have been actually drunk twice in my life (as an adult).

 

My stepdd21 never drank till this year, and she now has an alcoholic boyfriend and gets drunk with him regularly.

 

Whatever the statistics, there will be plenty of exceptions. I know my kids have a wild gene that will give them a tendency towards experimentation. We do a lot of talking. They are both fairly well balanced and healthy too..no apparent underlying psychological issues...hopefully self preservation will step in and keep them on the straight and narrow, or at elast bring them back to it when they stray! I am trying to teach them to treat their bodies like temples. They dont respond well :) and roll their eyes a lot, but at least they are being exposed to taking care of the body rather than it being a means to an end, and therefore the common mindset that its ok to abuse it as long as you can sleep it off.

[Carrie12345]

I don't know about statistics, but there are so many different components to consider that I'd find it difficult to rely on any stats.

 

My sisters and I weren't really "experimenters" before 18. One sister and I went nuts in college. We were drinking and smoking pot nearly every day. Our younger sister went to the occasional party.

 

We were raised around alcohol (even lived above our grandparents' tavern for a bit!). Every family event has alcohol available. It never really interested us when we were younger.

 

I haven't been a frequent drinker since I was 21. I sometimes drink at family events, which could be once or twice a year. Other times, I abstain. The sister who also went nuts in college has been through rehab for drugs and alcohol several times, but has been doing well for the past few years. The sister who didn't go crazy is now a wine aficionado and partakes nearly every day, but doesn't seem to have any issues.

 

FWIW, our stepfather is an alcoholic. He came into our lives when we were about 20, 17 and 14 (13 years ago). Our mother has been struggling with alcohol issues for the past 5 years or so.

 

That may influence our current situations, but I don't think it had much to do with our earlier experiences. We're just very different people who handle things in our own ways. Frankly, I think it's *nearly* a crapshoot.