ParentsEmpowered.org and Utah's Attorney General provide digital prevention

The two organizations have launched an integrated website with interactive prevention tools to help parents eliminate underage drinking. (www.parentsempowered.org)

ParentsEmpowered.org and the Utah Attorney General’s Office have joined forces to educate parents on the dangers of underage drinking and provide proven prevention skills. A new website will be featured on May 21 at 11:00AM by Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. The new ParentsEmpowered site will be previewed and online tools and details discussed.

The Utah Attorney General’s office is an official partner of ParentsEmpowered.org.  These organizations aim to spread a prevention message to parents and community members about the dangers of underage drinking and what can be done to prevent it. Utah’s Attorney General believes that the elimination of underage drinking can be accomplished when a complete community mobilization is created to fight this growing problem. ParentsEmpowered and Utah’s Attorney General invite all parents and community leaders to use the new interactive online resource to help eliminate underage drinking.

The new website is rich with parental skills and harmful risk assessment guidelines. The site’s objective is to provide parents with the necessary tools to prevent underage drinking in their homes and their communities. It aims to provide the necessary information for parents to talk with their teens about new research concerning potential damage caused by drinking underage.

New features on the new ParentsEmpowered website:

• A monthly feature article specific to Utah parents, providing research-based prevention advice for parents and community leaders on what can be done to prevent underage alcohol use.

• A specific list of the harms caused by drinking underage, new research findings and current studies covering the brain science of alcohol effects.

• The parental skills necessary to eliminate underage drinking.

• Downloads of brochures, fact sheets, and teaching tips, all the necessary information, in easy-to-download format, for parents and community groups to help eliminate underage drinking.

• Upcoming events and current prevention news, including the surgeon general’s call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking.

• Text messaging for parents to stay in touch with their kids. A ready way to communicate with your child while sitting at your desk that is accessible directly from the site. Research shows that just keeping in contact with your child is a powerful deterrent to drinking.

• An open discussion panel for parents. Parents’ Panel gives parents an avenue to ask questions of other parents and prevention specialists about underage drinking prevention. “What should I do if my child is…?”

• Prevention recommendations for case-by-case warning signs. An online calculator helps parents identify the underage drinking warning signs their children exhibit and provides parents with research based prevention or elimination recommendations.

• Complete list and videos of community organizations that have a similar goal in eliminating underage drinking. ParentsEmpowered.org is a community campaign that all community entities can join to help eliminate underage drinking.

ParentsEmpowered.org is a statewide campaign focused on eliminating underage drinking in Utah. Its primary goals are to educate parents about the dangers of underage drinking and provide them with proven skills to communicate with their children about remaining alcohol-free. More information is available atwww.parentsempowered.org.

1. The brain goes through dynamic change during adolescence (age 12-21) and alcohol can seriously damage the long and short-term growth processes. (American Medical Association Fact Sheet, 2003)

2. 40% of kids who begin drinking before the age of 15 will become alcohol dependant. (Grant, BF and Dawson, DA. Journal of Substance Abuse 9: 103-110. 1997)

3. More than 67% of young people who start drinking before the age of 15 will try an illicit drug. They are 22 times more likely to use marijuana, and 50 times more likely to use cocaine. (SAMHSA 2005 “Start Talking before they start drinking”)

4. Youth report that alcohol is easy to obtain. (IOM 2004)

5. 59% of Utah parents are unaware that six graders are drinking. (Pre-media Parental Survey R&R Partners, July 2006)

6. A national survey shows that 31% of the youth who reported being drunk last year were believed to be non-drinkers by their parents. (Pre-media Parental Survey R&R Partners, July 2006)

7. Research shows parental disapproval of underage drinking is the #1 reason youth choose not to drink.

8. 45% of Utah parents don’t believe they are the #1 influence. (Pre-media Parental Survey R&R Partners, July 2006)

9. Alcohol kills more young people than all other illegal drugs combined.

10. Research shows that addiction begins (and can be prevented) in adolescence: “A child who gets through age 21 without smoking, abusing alcohol or using illegal drugs is virtually certain never to do so.” (Joseph Califano, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 2006)