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What to do if you believe your child is drinking

A logical question that follows from the preceding discussion regarding warning signs is "What do I do if I believe that my child is using or abusing alcohol or other substances?" It is important initially to attempt to acquire information and express concerns directly to your child. It is important to remember that this is likely to be a highly sensitive area for your child and that certain tactics are likely to be counterproductive. For example, aggressive verbal attacks or threats are not likely to facilitate open communication with your child, nor is lecturing likely to provide the desired result.

While often difficult because of the sensitivity and importance of this issue for both parents and adolescents, an open discussion, unfettered by parental threats, is likely to yield the most accurate information for subsequent decision making. In addition, if appropriate, it may be useful to provide children with accurate facts about the potential serious problems associated with alcohol use. Such information should be accurate; exaggerated accounts may illicit unwanted fear or parental distrust among children. As noted in previous sections of this essay, even children as young as preschoolers already have some knowledge about alcoholic beverages and drinking practices. However, this knowledge may not be accurate or comprehensive, and may reflect distorted information and myths about alcohol use.

The potential dangers and health risks associated with alcohol use are not likely to be associated with the folklore surrounding youth drinking. This sharing of accurate information about alcohol use may not "solve" the problem associated with adolescent use, but it may facilitate parent-child communication on this topic and may mitigate the probability of escalation of alcohol use by the adolescent.

If more serious alcohol-related problems are indicated, it may be necessary to make decisions about more intensive treatment. There are a wide range of treatment options for adolescent substance abusers, including treatment in a psychiatric hospital, specialized inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment programs, educational programs, school-related programs, and mutual help programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

The decision to seek more serious treatment for adolescent alcohol and substance abuse is a difficult undertaking. Consultation with your family doctor or pediatrician is advisable, as he/she may be able to provide useful information or refer you to a specialist of adolescent substance abuse problems.

TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR ALCOHOL OR SUBSTANCE ABUSE

The following key issues should be considered in determining which option is the most appropriate for given circumstances:

(1) How severe is the substance abuse problem and is there any evidence (e.g., suicide attempts) to suggest that there may be other problems (e.g., depression)?

(2) What are the credentials of the staff who attend to my child and what form(s) of therapy (e.g., family, group, medications) are to be used?

(3) How will the family be involved in the treatment and how long will it be from treatment entry to discharge? Is there a follow-up phase of treatment?

(4) How will the adolescent continue his/her education during the treatment?

(5) How much of the treatment will our insurance cover and how much will we need to pay "out of pocket?"

Books

Boyd, G. M., J. Howard, and R. A. Zucker, eds. Alcohol Problems among Adolescents: Current Directions in Prevention Research. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1995.

Children at the Front: A Different View of the War on Alcohol and Drugs. Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America, 1992.

Collins, R. Lorraine, Kenneth E. Leonard, John S. Searles, (eds.) Alcohol and the Family: Research and Clinical Perspectives. New York: Guilford Press, 1990.

Grosshandler, Janet. Coping with Alcohol Abuse. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1990.

Schuckit, Marc Alan. Educating Yourself About Alcohol and Drugs: A People's Primer. New York: Plenum Press, 1995.

Periodicals

Arenofsky, Janice. "Teens Who Turned Bad Habits into Good Health." Current Health 23, May 1997, pp. 6+.

Ervin, C. S., R. E. Little, et al. "Alcoholic Fathering and Its Relation to Child's Intellectual Development." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 8, no. 4, 1984, pp. 362-65.

Johnson, J. L. and J. E. Rolf. "Cognitive Functioning in Children from Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Families." British Journal of Addiction 83, 1988, pp. 849-57.

Miller, D., and M. Jang. "Children of Alcoholics: A 20-Year Longitudinal Study. " Social Work Research and Abstracts 13, 1977, pp. 23-29.

Knop, J., T. W. Teasdale, et al. "A Prospective Study of Young Men at High Risk for Alcoholism: School Behavior and Achievement." Journal of Studies on Alcohol 46, 1985, pp. 273-78.

West, M. O. and R. J. Prinz. "Parental Alcoholism and Childhood Psychopathology." Psychological Bulletin 102, 1987, pp. 204-218.

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