Pubdate: Sun, 10 Feb 2008
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: C01
Copyright: 2008 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Lori Aratanim, Washington Post Staff Writer

CATCHING UP TO THE BOYS, IN THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Teen Girls' Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Use on the Rise

She lost count of the vodka shots. It was New Year's Eve 2005, and 
for this high school freshman, it was time to party. She figured 
she'd be able to sleep it off -- she'd done it before. But by the 
time she got home the next day, her head was still pounding, her 
mouth was dry, and she couldn't focus. This time, the symptoms were 
obvious even to her parents.

After that night, she realized the weekend buzzes had gone from being 
a maybe to a must.

"Before, it was a novelty," the Silver Spring teen said. "It went 
from, 'Well, maybe . . .' to 'Oh, I know I'm going to drink this weekend.' "

A generation of parents and educators have pushed to ensure that 
girls have the same opportunities as their male counterparts, with 
notable results. In 2007, for example, it was girls who dominated the 
national math and science competition sponsored by Siemens. But a 
growing number of reports show that the message of equality might 
have a downside.

Teenage girls now equal or outpace teenage boys in alcohol 
consumption, drug use and smoking, national surveys show. The number 
of girls entering the juvenile justice system has risen steadily over 
the past few years. A 2006 study that examined accident rates among 
young drivers noted that although boys get into more car accidents, 
girls are slowly beginning to close the gap.

A 17-year-old Charles County girl was charged last month with 
reckless and negligent driving in a Nov. 28 accident in which a 
15-year-old girl was killed. In June, a 20-year-old student at George 
Mason University traveling west on the inner loop of the Capital 
Beltway near the Springfield interchange drove her convertible into a 
tractor-trailer. She and three friends were killed. Then, in 
September, a 17-year-old Fairfax County girl was charged with 
aggravated involuntary manslaughter after she drove her sport-utility 
vehicle head-on into a van, killing a 59-year-old woman.

"When you take off the shackles, you release all kind of energy -- 
negative and positive," said James Garbarino, the Maude C. Clarke 
Chair in Humanistic Psychology at Loyola University in Chicago. "By 
letting girls loose to experience America more fully, it's not 
surprising that they would absorb some of its toxic environment."

The teenager with the vodka hangover, who is now 16, was one of 
several Washington region teenage girls who agreed to talk about 
their lives and what compels them to drink, smoke or indulge in 
behaviors that might make their parents blanch. They asked that their 
names not be used so they could speak frankly.

In the same breath, the young women talked about feeling "empowered" 
because they can choose from myriad colleges and careers and about 
how that "freedom" extends to partying at clubs, drinking and 
smoking. Experts worry that those feelings, coupled with a teen's 
natural sense of invincibility, can be a potent and dangerous 
combination. Indeed, the teenage girls interviewed by The Washington 
Post seemed almost blase about the potential consequences.

"People tell me all the time [smoking] isn't good for me," said an 
18-year-old from Bethesda, rolling her eyes. But in her mind, that's 
30 years down the line. Same with the drinking (she prefers 
champagne) and the occasional recreational drug.

"In the past, people have had this angelic picture, but girls are 
just as bad as boys are," she said. "We do what we want to do, when 
we want to do it."

"I live for now," she said, a grin spreading across her face. "It's 
great to be a girl."

Experts say there is no single explanation for why more teenage girls 
are deciding to experiment with drugs or why some are getting into 
fights. However, they do note that society's expectations about 
girlhood have changed dramatically over the years. Annette 
Funicello's wholesome beach blanket antics have given way to Britney 
Spears's latest meltdown.

"The why of what's happening is in part a direct response to the 
advances that we're making as a society around gender equity," said 
Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a professor of public health at Harvard 
University. If society offers girls and boys the same opportunities, 
that means they're exposed to the good as well as the bad, she said.

"We really have to ask the questions, 'Why wouldn't you expect girls 
to behave [like boys]?' Girls and women are closing all the other 
gaps," Prothrow-Stith said.

Experts who work with teenage girls, particularly those in the 
Washington region, say more options can also equal more stress. A 
2005 poll, conducted by The Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and 
Harvard found that more than four in 10 local high school girls said 
they "frequently" experienced stress in their daily lives, compared 
with fewer than three in 10 nationally.

"Our lives are so crazy, and kids are looking for something when they 
feel" stressed, said Beverly Parker-Lewis, a clinical psychologist 
with the Fairfax County public schools. "Sometimes, the result is 
negative behavior."

Teenagers say pressure is a factor. The 18-year-old remembered being 
so overwhelmed by the pressure to be a perfect student that, at one 
point, she couldn't get out of bed. The 16-year-old talked about how 
both academic and peer pressure prompted her to take up drinking as 
an outlet for her stress.

Girls "work so hard to prove themselves all the time," said Christine 
Whitaker, a therapist with Metropolitan Counseling Associates in 
Bethesda. "Then, when the weekend comes, they blow it all out."

And teenagers are surrounded by a mix of messages. On one hand, their 
parents and teachers tell them not to drink, smoke or do drugs, but 
on the other hand, music and such television shows as "Gossip Girl" 
and "The Hills" showcase teens indulging in just such behavior.

According to a 2006 survey by the National Center on Addiction and 
Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, girls between the ages 
of 12 and 17 were at equal or higher risk of substance abuse compared 
with boys. That same year, the White House Office of National Drug 
Control Policy found that the number of girls who smoke or abuse 
prescription drugs had surpassed that of boys. More troubling: The 
increase in drug usage among girls comes at a time when overall 
numbers for teenage drug abuse are on the decline.

Sue Foster, vice president and director of policy research and 
analysis at CASA, said these behaviors can be especially dangerous 
for girls because of the different ways in which their bodies process 
substances. One drink for a woman is the equivalent of two for a man. 
CASA researchers found that girls and women "are also likely to 
become addicted to alcohol, nicotine, illegal and prescription drugs 
and develop substance-abuse related diseases at lower levels of use 
and in shorter periods of time."

The 16-year-old said her vodka hangover made her realize that 
drinking was starting to dominate her life. It was affecting her 
grades and friendships. Slowly, with the help of a counselor, she 
began to set limits for herself. She stopped hanging around with 
friends who liked to drink and found a new crowd. She still drinks on 
weekends, but it has ceased to be a "must" in her life, she said.

A recent study, conducted by emergency medicine physicians at the 
Center for Trauma and Injury Prevention Research at the University of 
California at Irvine medical school, examined accident rates of young 
drivers between 2000 and 2004 and found that although boys have more 
accidents, young female drivers appear to be closing the gap.

"It used to be that girls had far fewer accidents and speeding 
tickets and were considered to be better risks," said Carolyn Gorman, 
vice president of the Insurance Information Institute. "But over the 
last 15 to 20 years, girls have been catching up with boys."

Those who work with adolescents say that as people become more aware 
of the trends affecting girls, the key will be to find ways to address them.

Because teenage boys have been considered the traditional culprits, 
"young women are falling between the cracks," said Virginia Tsai, a 
physician with the UC-Irvine study.

Rebecca Kullback, a colleague of Whitaker's who is co-founder of 
Metropolitan Counseling Associates in Bethesda, said parents need to 
rethink the messages they're sending their daughters and teach them 
how to better manage their stresses. Other experts say that those who 
work with adolescents need to better tailor intervention programs to 
be effective for girls as well as boys.

But the real challenge of reaching the teen girl demographic might be 
persuading girls that their behavior could have consequences -- if 
not now, somewhere down the line.

When asked why they drink, the 18-year-old and a friend paused for a 
moment before summing up the appeal in one succinct statement:

"Life," the 18-year-old declared, as her friend chimed in, "is better 
with a buzz." 
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