Friday, October 9, 2015

Teens' positive views of marijuana and alcohol associated with future DUI

Check out Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson's blog post about why it's important to talk with children in early middle school about marijuana and alcohol.

Here's an excerpt:

New acronym for me this week: RWDD. It’s “Riding With a Drinking Driver.” Not a drunk one, but someone who has been drinking . . . A study out yesterday in Pediatrics is worth a quick mention to any parent or any adult or any family doc or any pediatrician or any nurse practitioner or any medical assistant or any coach or any teacher that has contact/supervision/leadership/influence with a teen. The study, conducted on middle school students in the Los Angeles area, found that positive beliefs about marijuana at age 12 were predictors of later getting a DUI or RWDD when a new teen driver 4 years later. Translation: middle school is a wild time of transition and the time we should check in about marijuana’s lack of safety and risks associated with alcohol. Researchers conclude that 6th grade is when we should be talking with our tweens, that “positive beliefs and ability to resist marijuana in early adolescence, not actual alcohol and marijuana use, had the strongest association with DUI  and RWDD ∼4 years later.”

Dr. Swanson talked about how positive views on marijuana and alcohol are associated with future DUI on King5:

 

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