Parent Survey Done in
Barrington Area
The Community Drug Prevention Coalition
(CDPC) is a grassroots group of local governments, social service and health
agencies, schools, police, students and parents with a mission “to reverse the
trend of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse in our community through
education, prevention and intervention strategies and encourage healthy
alternatives”. The CDPC is
representative of Barrington, Barrington Hills, Deer Park, Lake Barrington, North Barrington, South Barrington, and Tower Lakes,
as well as Barrington and Cuba Townships.
Over the next year the CDPC will present a series of articles related to
substance abuse and healthy choices for the Barrington Area community and its
young people.
In February of 2006, the CDPC sent out a
survey to each household with at least one 6th–12th grade
student enrolled in CUSD 220 or St. Anne’s Middle School. The purpose of the
survey was to gather information from parents regarding youth alcohol and drug
use. The surveys were tabulated by Dr. Joel Cowen of Health Systems Research at
the University of Illinois School of Medicine at Rockford. A total of 3,598 surveys were
mailed to households in the area, and 21% were completed and mailed back to
Health Systems Research. The information
gathered from the 763 returned surveys covers a variety of issues surrounding
youth alcohol and drug use. This article will focus on parents’ responses to
questions about attitudes and beliefs about teen alcohol and other drug use and
behaviors regarding teen parties. Please
look for a follow up parent survey article regarding parent/teen communication
and protective factors, such as setting a curfew, in the next few weeks.
Attitudes and Beliefs
Regarding communication with their teen about their beliefs and
expectations regarding alcohol and drug use, 98.6% of parents reported having
these tough discussions. Ninety-six
percent of those parents feel that their teen acts in accordance with their
beliefs and expectations all or most of the time.
The majority of Barrington
area parents agree that alcohol use by area teens is a serious problem. Eighty one percent of parents felt that
alcohol is a very serious or serious problem among teens. A comment written on one survey stated “I
wish I could say never, but I know high school kids are faced with both
drinking and drugs at parties and middle school kids as well.”
Parties and Permissiveness
When asked if their teen is allowed to drink at home with adult/parental
supervision, 97% of parents responded that this is never or rarely
allowed. Regarding permissiveness of
teens drinking in their home with adult/parental supervision, 99% of parents
responded that this is never allowed. “It is not okay for teens to drink at any
time,” was written by one survey respondent.
Studies show that teens who are allowed to go to parties with no adult
supervision can find themselves in precarious if not dangerous situations. Fortunately, 85.5% of Barrington area respondents
do not allow their teens to go to parties where there are no adults present, while
89.8% of parents never allow their teen to go to parties where drinking is
occurring.
What’s Next?
The next step is continuing the conversation that has been started with
these survey results and with this article.
It is important to remember that there are resources available for
parents. Whether you need to confront a
problem that is occurring, or begin the conversation with your teen, there are many
locations in which to find helpful information on many parenting topics. Advice from one respondent is “…talk, talk,
talk, bug the teen if you need to – but find out details…”
Some websites
such as www.theantidrug.com
offer parents information and newsletters to assist in having
conversations with teens about drugs and healthy choices and gives tips if
a parent suspects that something is going on with their teen.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is to never feel as though
you have to do this alone. The results
of the survey administered were promising in regards to positive parental
practices. The Community Drug Prevention
Coalition (CDPC) wants to congratulate you and encourage you to continue your
diligence. The CDPC has created a committee
that is using this data to guide the selection of prevention strategies. If you are interested in getting involved
with this committee or the CDPC, please contact the CDPC chair, Steve
McWilliams, at smcwilliams@cusd220.org.
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