Text on screen: Ask the experts: common questions about drugs


Cath Chapman:       
My name is Cath Chapman, and I work at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney.


Nicola Newton:      
I'm Nicola Newton. I'm an Associate Professor and Director of Prevention Research.


Text on screen: When should we start talking about drugs?


Cath Chapman:       
In the work we do with parents, we have a lot of parents who say to us, "I'm not really confident on this topic. I don't really know how to start the conversation, but it's a way off yet. I'm not worried about it yet." 


I would say that's actually when you need to start having those conversations, because we know, research has shown, that prevention is effective with adolescents well before they're exposed to drugs and alcohol. We need to start having those sorts of conversations earlier than we might feel comfortable with.


Text on screen: How can we help our teenagers handle peer pressure?


Cath Chapman:       
Giving your teenagers options that are not just about, "No, I don't want to take drugs," or, "No, I don't want to drink," is really important. For young people, that's a difficult strategy. It might be easy to say to them, you know, "Make an excuse. Blame me. Say, 'My mom's really strict, and she's picking me up, and she always smells my breath, and she always asks questions. I just can't.'" Some teenagers are comfortable saying, "No, it's just not what I feel like doing right now," but for others, it's good to have an excuse or a reason. They can blame you if they want.


Text on screen: What is peer influence?


Nicola Newton:      
Peer influence is when a child chooses to do something that they might not have otherwise done, because they have a need to fit in.


Cath Chapman:       
One of the things we've found is that despite what we might read in the media, or what we might hear, rates of alcohol use and drug use have actually decreased among young people in Australia over the last decade.


Nicola Newton:      
This leads into the importance of teaching kids that not all people are taking alcohol and drugs. In fact, the majority of young people don't.


Cath Chapman:       
If they're choosing not to use drugs, or if they're choosing not to drink alcohol, then they're joining a growing number of Australians who are making the same choices.


Text on screen: What motivates teens to avoid drugs?


Cath Chapman:       
One of the things that we know about teenagers, and what's important to them in terms of influencing their choices, is understanding consequences that matter to them. The immediate things that might happen. The fact that they might not be able to do so well at an important sport match on the weekend because they're not feeling so good, or the fact that something ends up on social media, and the impact for them is really bad. One of the things that resonates with young people, especially with older teenagers, is the impact of drug and alcohol use on the brain. They find it really fascinating, this idea of the adolescent brain, and what's happening, and how it's developing. They do find it really interesting information and important information to know that alcohol can disrupt brain development. That really matters to people.


Nicola Newton:      
Your brain is developing until you're 24 years old. What you do when you're a teenager can now have significant impacts later in life. We didn't know this information 10 years ago, we know it now.


Cath Chapman:       
In fact, we've got one of our PhD students here, who's working on a program where she's using that information in an educational program to prevent illicit drug use and alcohol use among older teenagers, because that sort of information seems to really resonate with older teenagers.


Text on screen: What do we do if their mate is in trouble?


Cath Chapman:       
If, for example, you're in a situation where you have your teenager say something to you like, "Oh, I'm really worried about a friend of mine, and I want to tell you what's going on, but I don't want her to get in trouble, and I don't want you to tell her mom and dad," now, it's tempting to say, "Oh, no. I'd never tell their mom and dad." What I would say in that situation, it's far better to say, "I can't promise you that I won't tell her mom and dad, because if I'm worried about her safety or I'm concerned about something that's going on, and I think that I need to tell her mom and dad to keep her safe, then I will. What I can tell you is that there's a far better chance that I'm going to be able to help you help them if you tell me what's going on." That's a better way of approaching it than telling them something that actually may turn out not to be true. You know, honesty is really important as well.


Nicola Newton:      
I came into this research thinking it was all about peers during adolescence, and it was only peers that kids cared about, where in fact, we know that parents do still play a critical role. Don't underestimate how important you are in your child's life at this time.


Text on screen: Reachout.com