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by Stephen G. Wallace, M.S. Ed.
Anyone who has attended or worked at a summer camp knows the experience
transcends that offered by the mere existence of soccer balls, tennis
courts, or sailboats. Camps are communities—villages really, and
at their best maybe more.
Folklore, common sense, and even recent research on resiliency suggest
that children thrive best in environments rich with structure, supervision,
and the guidance of caring adults. Like neighborhoods of yesteryear,
summer camps foster a collective responsibility to and accountability
for all the children, not just those living in a particular cabin or
learning a certain skill.
Building on the nuclear family, camp counselors pick up where parents
leave off—nurturing healthy exploration, achievement, self-reliance,
and respect for oneself, for others, and for the community at large.
Many of these same tenets have found their way into the prevention principles
that ground important efforts to keep youth alcohol-free, suggesting
a mutuality of interest and impact between camp programs and those designed
to keep young people, particularly teens, safe and alive.
Indeed, camps can play a pivotal role in reinforcing and even establishing
expectations regarding the advisability and acceptability of underage
drinking.
Why Bother?
A report from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine
of the National Academies (Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility)
sounds the alarm on an epidemic of youth and alcohol. So, too, does Teens
Today research from SADD and Liberty Mutual Group:
- Drinking increases significantly between the sixth and seventh
grades.
- The average age for teens to start drinking is thirteen years
old.
- By twelfth grade, more than three in four teens are drinking.
Unfortunately, many young people fall prey to the Myth of Invincibility,
believing that there are no real or lasting effects of alcohol use. They're
wrong:
- The younger a child is when he or she starts to drink, the
higher the chances he or she will have alcohol-related problems later
in life.
- Alcohol use by teens affects still-developing cognitive abilities
and impairs memory
and learning.
- Teens that drink are more likely to commit or be the victim of
violence (including sexual assault) and to experience depression and
suicidal thoughts.
- Alcohol-related automobile crashes kill thousands of teens each
year and injure millions more.
In turn, many of the important adults in teens' lives may also
subscribe to the Myth of
Inevitability—convinced that drinking is a rite of passage for
youth and that there's not much they can do to influence a young
person's choices. They're wrong, too:
- More than a third of middle and high school students say
they have not consumed alcohol.
- Adults who talk with teens about underage drinking, set expectations,
and enforce consequences can discourage experimentation with alcohol.
(This influence holds true for other teen behaviors as well, such as
drug use and early sexual activity.)
- Young people say they want guidance in making decisions about
personal behavior, including alcohol use.
Although alcohol consumption is often perceived as less of a concern
among anti-drug efforts, underage drinking clearly remains a substantial
threat. Indeed, the National Academies' report estimates the annual
cost to be $53 billion in losses from traffic deaths, violent crime,
and other destructive behavior . . . to say nothing of the damage to
mental health, school performance, and relationships with parents and
peers. It is past time to reconcile the forces of indifference and indulgence
that perpetuate underage drinking with the urgent need to protect children.
The report calls for a series of steps it suggests will change the face
of "normative" behavior when it comes to adolescents and
alcohol. In the spirit of "it takes a village," it also serves
up a strategy suggesting the participation of almost all segments of
society. With the camp industry's extraordinary capacity to "reach" youth,
summer camps should be no exception.
Perhaps most significant, the report suggests an array of youth-oriented
interventions aimed not only at increasing self-esteem or decreasing
peer pressure, but also at activities that educate, intervene, and enforce.
However, making those efforts effective requires a close examination
of the factors that influence young people to drink in the first place.
Not surprisingly, some teens say they drink to have fun, fit in, or
just to do what their friends seem to be doing, but engaging in destructive
behaviors is not just about "having a good time." Many teens,
particularly older ones, drink to escape problems. Left unaddressed,
those problems can pose a significant risk to healthy social and emotional
development. So, too, does a lack of experience in solving them.
The data also indicates other key drivers of decisions about alcohol,
including depression, anxiety, stress, and boredom; a desire to feel
grown up and to take risks; a fear of getting caught; and the influence
of parents, friends, and siblings. So what does this tell us? That there
are practical approaches camp counselors can take to reduce the likelihood
that young people will turn to alcohol.
- Monitor campers' emotional health—and intervene
at signs of trouble. Anxiety, and its close cousin depression, correlates
highly with alcohol use. So does boredom . . . so find things for teens
to do that both stimulate and challenge.
- Help teens achieve their goals. They want to be successful, to
grow up, and to take risks. Channel that risk-taking tendency toward
activities that enhance healthy socialization with peers and positive
feelings about themselves. Also, take time to point out ways in which
alcohol use can interfere with success in academics and athletics.
- Establish (and enforce) consequences for bad behavior. Young
people need clear boundaries and appreciate adults who care enough
to patrol them.
- Be a good role model. Not surprisingly, Teens Today research
revealed that students in grades six through twelve report that those
they are close to are most influential in their decisions not to drink.
Most importantly: communicate. Young people who have caring adults willing
to take the time to talk with them about underage drinking benefit from
hearing about the risks associated with alcohol use and strategies to
avoid it.
Unfortunately, too many influential role models send too many messages
that encourage or enable underage drinking, while many others simply
expect or ignore it. Agreeing to disagree about this important issue
obscures an alarming indifference about youth and alcohol. But it does
nothing to keep teens safe and alive. Not until society speaks with one,
clear, unambiguous voice about the perils of underage drinking, as the
National Academies' report
suggests, will it successfully shatter the myths of invincibility and
inevitability that propel it.
Our highways and hospitals are lined with young people who made poor,
even fatal, choices about alcohol. Still many more suffer silently, unable
to meet their own life goals or to realize the promise their friends,
parents, and other caring adults see in them. Understanding teen drinking
readies deployment of the many people needed to prevent it, including
camp counselors. As the ancient African proverb teaches, it will take
a village. Maybe more.
Originally published in the 2006 November/December
issue of Camping Magazine. |
