BBC reports on underage drinking in Europe

Here are more BBC reports about youth alcohol abuse in Europe:

Vodka, homework, and me is a documentary that follows an 11 year old and a 15 year old as they tried to give up drinking. According to the story, Britain has the fourth highest levels of underage drinking in Europe. In the North West area of England, 90% of 15-16 year olds drink alcohol.

Are Europe's teenagers drinking explores attitudes toward underage drinking across Europe.

Call to raise drinking age to 21 is just about that . . . a debate in the UK about their legal drinking age.

Fears over rise in child drinking discusses how excessive drinking by young people has resulted in a 20% rise in hospital admissions in England over the past five years.

NBA to allow hard-liquor ads

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is reversing a longtime ban and will allow hard-liquor firms to place court side ads during games, part of a trend toward more liberal ad policies as sports firms face a worsening economy.

Since professional sports have traditionally been one way for families to enjoy entertainment together, increased alcohol advertising in sports arenas will expose young people to more and more positive alcohol messages -- something the United States Surgeon General has spoken out against.

Learn how to use Healthy Youth Survey data

The results from the 2008 Healthy Youth Survey will be released this spring. Free workshops are available for communities to learn how to use the data. The closest one to Seattle will be held in Renton the morning of Wednesday, March 25.

Social Emotional Learning bill

Several Washington State Representatives, including northeast Seattle's Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney (46th District), have proposed a Social Emotional Learning bill, HB1162.

According to the bill, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is defined as age-appropriate behavioral and emotional management, relationship skills, conflict resolution, interpersonal communication, cooperation, decision-making, and planning. Life Skills Training, the evidence-based drug/alcohol prevention program being implemented at Eckstein Middle School, is an example of a curriculum teaching social emotional skills to students.

The purpose of NB1162 is to support and provide leadership for incorporating SEL into basic education.

Teen substance use references on MySpace

About half of teens reference substance use or other risky behaviors on social networking websites, such as MySpace, according to a study published in the January issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Not only do the findings suggest that social networking websites can be used to detect if teens are engaging in risky behaviors, they suggest that these sites can also be used for prevention purposes. CADCA has written a good synopsis of these findings.

Billboard in Wenatchee

The Orchard Middle School Youth Alcohol Prevention Coalition recently launched a six-month social norms campaign in their community (Wenatchee). The billboard pictured here is part of that campaign.

Like in NE Seattle, most Wenatchee parents monitor their children, a positive social norm that prevents underage drinking.

The Orchard coalition is one of the twelve funded by a SPF-SIG grant from the Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse. The NE Seattle coalition is also one of those twelve communities.

For more information on social norms marketing campaigns, check out the Most of Us project.

Free seminar on tobacco prevention

Preventing Tobacco Use and Related Health Risking Behaviors in Early Adolescence: Results from the Community Youth Development Study

featuring David Hawkins, PhD, founding Director of the UW Social Development Research Group

Wednesday, February 4, 3:30 - 5:00 p.m.

UW School of Social Work, Room 305 (Commons)

Seminar is free and open to the community. Please RSVP to kriggs@u.washington.edu if you plan to attend.

Flasks for teens?

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Icing by Claire's, a subsidiary of tween accessory shop chain Claire's Stores Inc., sells flasks printed with girl-friendly designs. Though Oregon Partnership has asked Claire's to stop selling alcohol flasks in stores catering to teen customers, the retailer says it will continue to sell the flasks at its 3,000 stores. According to a company spokesperson, the store will post signs at store counters supporting "responsible" alcohol consumption.

"Responsible" alcohol consumption among teenagers? Really?

More alcohol outlets bad for prevention efforts

This week, there have been many reports in local media about the Governor's proposal to increase the number of state-run alcohol outlets in our state as a way to generate state revenue during these hard economic times. (Here is one from the Post Intelligencer.)

What never gets discussed is how this would impact underage drinking prevention. For instance, research shows that:

• outlet density is correlated with heavy drinking particularly among underage students and students who pick up drinking in college;
• the amount of law enforcement against underage purchases and the number of outlets where youth can buy alcohol are the biggest determinants of underage drinking.

State policy does affect prevention efforts locally. Would more liquor stores in our community be a good thing?

Free Guiding Good Choices!

Parents still have time to register for upcoming series of Guiding Good Choices workshops being offered for free, for a limited time! The dates and places the workshops will take place are:

starting February 4 at Seattle Children's Hospital and

starting February 26 at Eckstein Middle School.

Detailed information is available by clicking here.