A study recently published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research shows that teens who drink underage show signs of breakdown in the brain's wiring system.
The brain has two broad types of tissue, known as gray matter and white matter. The gray matter can be seen as the brain's information-processing centers, while the white matter is like the wiring connecting those centers. Using brain scans of 92 teenagers, researchers found that kids who regularly drank showed negative changes in the brain's white matter over 18 months. The impacts of those changes in white matter can prevent parts of the brain from talking to each other as effectively, hurting memory, attention, and mental processing speed.
With regular, repeated, heavy use throughout adolescence and young adulthood, these effects may become more noticeable and consequential. You can read more about the study here.
Fortunately, parents can have a strong influence on whether your teens drink — nearly three out of four kids say their parents are the leading influence on their decisions about drinking. We encourage parents take advantage of the holiday break, to talk with their teens about alcohol. Having intentional and ongoing conversations with your teen about alcohol can be lifesaving, but we also know it can be difficult. That’s why we created Power of Parents®— a research based program that has been shown to reduce underage drinking when you read the parent handbook and talk with your teen about drinking. You can download the parent handbook here.
Submitted by PawPaw at 05:59 PM on February 28, 2013
Submitted by Grammy at 05:27 AM on February 6, 2013
Submitted by Kat at 06:27 PM on December 25, 2012