Pubdate: Sun, 25 Apr 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Author: Larry McShane,  AP National Writer

Study: Kids Hear Anti-Drug Message

NEW YORK (AP)   Surprise, mom and dad: When it comes to frank talk on drug
use, your kids are listening.

A study released Sunday by the Partnership for a Drug Free America found
that teens who received strong anti-drug messages at home were 42 percent
less  likely to use drugs than teens whose parents ignored the issue.

"With parents, we can cut drug use dramatically. Without them, we cannot,"
said James E. Burke, chairman of the partnership.

One word of caution for parents: a single conversation probably won't get
the job done. Although 98 percent of parents said they had spoken with their
children about drugs, only 27 percent of teens said they learned a lot about
drug risks at home, the survey found.

"What's truly complicated about this is that parents really believe they're
doing their job in this area, but the data suggest otherwise," Burke said.

According to the study, there were significant differences in
experimentation between teens who spoke regularly with their parents about
drug  use and those who did not.

Among teens who learned a lot at home, marijuana use was 26 percent. Among
those who said they learned nothing at home, 45 percent said they had used
marijuana.

For inhalants, the first group reported 14 percent, while among the latter
group 28 percent had used them. For LSD, the figures were 7 percent and 20
percent; for cocaine, 7 percent and 16 percent.

One reason parents aren't speaking with children about drugs: they
underestimate the availability. Only 37 percent of parents surveyed believed
their teens had ever been offered marijuana. But 53 percent of the teens
said  they had been offered pot.

One other finding of the survey: It's best for parents to reach their
children at an early age. Among fourth-graders, 74 percent said they wanted
more details from their parents about drugs. Among eighth-graders, the
figure fell to 19 percent.

The Partnership is a private, nonprofit coalition of communications industry
professionals, known for its anti-drug advertising campaign. This is its
11th  annual poll.

The survey was conducted in 1998 among 2,258 preteens, 6,852 teens and 809
parents.

The margin of error for the preteens' data was plus or minus 2.8 percentage
points; the teens, plus or minus 1.8; for the adults, plus or minus 3.9.

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