ADOLESCENT BINGE DRINKING IS A BIG HEADACHE IN AUSTRALIA
Throughout Australia adolescent binge drinking is a huge public health problem and a growing social concern.
Every week over 168,000 Australian adolescents drink in a risky fashion.
It is a worrying trend for a number of reasons.
The immature brain of a teenager is far more sensitive to the harmful effects of alcohol than is the adult brain, with the current Australian guidelines providing no ‘safe’ level of alcohol use for those less than 18 years.
Adolescent drinking is associated with accidents, violence, high risk sexual behaviour, smoking, poor school performance and alcohol related disorders.
Adolescent binge drinking is also associated with binge drinking as an adult.
There is also a strong link between alcohol abuse and adolescent mental health problems including anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide.
Dr Robert Tait and Prof Helen Christensen, from the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University (ANU), are conducting a pilot research study that targets adolescent alcohol abuse using an internet intervention strategy!
It is the manner of intervention that prompted this particular pilot research study.
More than a quarter of adolescents think the internet is a useful source of information on topics that are hard to discuss.
15-17 year old boys are the most likely to use the net for this purpose.
The ANU study is one of ten pilot research studies funded by Australian Rotary Health’s 2010 initiative “Mental Health of Young Australians (Birth to 17 Years)”.
Early intervention can prevent adolescents from developing alcohol related disorders.
However, the high incidence of adolescent binge drinking means face-to-face counselling is unlikely to be able to reach all those who need help.
While online interventions have been effective in treating adult problem drinking, to date there is no web-based intervention specifically designed for adolescent drinkers.
“Adolescents differ from adults regarding alcohol use” Dr Tait explained. “Interventions that succeed with young adults will not necessarily succeed with adolescents”.
School curricula already contain alcohol education and prevention programs. However, these programs include student group activities and teacher input which, according to Dr Tait, may not be the best method of delivery.
“Teenage binge drinkers are likely to be secretive or guarded about their behaviour” he said, “and this may limit the effectiveness of a classroom intervention program”.
The privacy issue will be resolved by developing an internet intervention, which will adapt successful face-to-face alcohol programs to internet use.
“We believe this website will be the first to allow adolescents private access to proven intervention programs” Dr Tait said.
The “Mental Health of Young Australians’ initiative is the first of its kind in Australia.
Australian Rotary Health Chairman, Noel Trevaskis, noted that “the $300,000 spent on funding the initiative is a valuable investment in the health of Australia’s children”.