Set the Record Straight.

There are some questions you just assume your teens know the answers to. Like how late they can stay out on a school night or what’ll happen if they don’t finish their homework before watching TV. But, do they know why they shouldn’t drink alcohol? In a recent statewide study, 85% of Hawaii teens said that they know you don’t want them to drink. But, aside from knowing it’s illegal, they have a hard time giving other reasons why they shouldn’t.¹

So, what do you need to know about underage drinking?

Everyone Drinks, Right?

It’s easy to assume that all teens drink, but the reality is that almost 7 out 10 teens in Hawaii don’t drink. If you make it sound like everyone is drinking, your child may feel like they’re the only ones choosing to stay away from alcohol. Odds are your teen is not drinking, but you should still engage in honest conversations about alcohol with your teen to keep it that way.

How does alcohol put teens at risk?

• Violence

  Teens who start drinking before they’re 15 years-old are 12 times more likely than those who wait until 21 to be critically injured and 10 times more likely to be involved in an act of violence such as a serious fight.²

• Risky Sexual Behavior

  Underage drinking is a strong predictor for both sexual activity and unprotected sex.³ Teen drinking significantly increases the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS, herpes, chlamydia and HPV.⁴

• Problems at School

  Drinking teens get worse grades and do worse on standardized tests than non-drinking teens.⁵

• Illegal Drug Use

  Drinking teens are 22 times more likely to use marijuana and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than teens who have never drank.⁶

• Traffic Fatalities

  Traffic crashes are the number one killer of teens and more than 1/3 of teen traffic deaths are alcohol related.⁷

• Long Term Effects

  Young brains continue to develop through the teen years and alcohol can permanently affect that development.