Pubdate: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 1999 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ TEEN DRINKING, DRUG USE LINKED WITH HIGH-RISK SEX WASHINGTON (AP) -- Teenagers who drink or use drugs are much more likely than others to be sexually active, starting sexual intercourse as early as middle school and with a greater likelihood of multiple partners, a research group said Tuesday. With condom use among teens being erratic at best, there is a fear that the combination of substance abuse and sex could increase the 12 million new annual cases of sexually transmitted disease. "In America, drinking and drug abuse are bundled with high-risk sex," said Susan Foster, who directed the report "Dangerous Liaisons: Substance Abuse and Sex" for the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. "Yet despite the high coincidence of substance abuse and sexual activity, remarkably few public or private prevention, treatment and counseling programs deal with this connection." In its report, gleaned from a variety of data on 34,000 teens in grades seven to 12, the research center admits it's not sure what comes first -- the drinking and drug-taking or the promiscuity. In its analysis, the group factored out other reasons -- such as socioeconomic status or race -- that are associated with either drinking or having sex but not necessarily both, and could have made the connection look weaker or stronger than it actually is. But the report suggests there could be some lessons from adults: Adult heavy drinkers -- defined as about seven drinks a day over two weeks -- are five times as likely as those who don't drink at all to have at least 10 sexual partners a year. Ben Smilowitz, a University of Connecticut freshman who often finds little social life on campus beyond drinking parties, said his peers are turning to drink not only because of stress, but also in imitation of adults. "People see drinking as way of relaxing because that's what adults do," Smilowitz, 18, said. "You go to a football game or hockey and see adults getting trashed." He says more kids are drinking and therefore engaging in riskier behavior all around. The report said drug-using teens are five times as likely to have sex as non-users, and three times as likely to have it with four or more partners, according to the two-year analysis of data. A generation ago, the report said, fewer teens were having sex. In 1970, 5 percent of 15-year-old girls had sex; in 1972, 20 percent of 15-year-old boys said they had sex. In 1997, 45 percent of boys and 38 percent of girls said they had had intercourse in their teen years. The research group urged middle and high schools to create comprehensive education programs that address the link between substance abuse and sex. But students have a different view. "When society tells kids don't have sex, don't drink, don't use drugs, it's just creating forbidden fruit," Smilowitz said. "Society needs to re-examine its way of dealing with kids." The report was funded by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Besides data from the teens, the report also relied on articles, expert interviews and examination of dozens of prevention and treatment programs for substance abuse, sex and sexual violence. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk