Sexually Active Friends and Dating Practices Can Signal Increase in a Teen's Substance Abuse Risk: Girls Who Date Boys Two or More Years Older Likelier to Smoke, Drink, Get Drunk, and Use Illegal Drugs

“The more sexually active friends a teen has and the more time a teen spends with a boyfriend or girlfriend, the greater the risk that teen will smoke, drink, get drunk or use illegal drugs, according to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse IX: Teen Dating Practices and Sexual Activity, an annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA*) at Columbia University.”

“This ninth annual CASA survey found:”

•“Compared to teens with no sexually active friends, teens who report half or more of their friends are sexually active are more than six and one-half times likelier to drink; 31 times likelier to get drunk; 22.5 times likelier to have tried marijuana; and more than five and one-half times likelier to smoke.”

•“Teens who spend 25 or more hours a week with a boyfriend/girlfriend are two and one-half times likelier to drink; five times likelier to get drunk; 4.5 times likelier to have tried marijuana; and more than 2.5 times likelier to smoke than teens who spend less than 10 hours a week with a boyfriend/girlfriend.”

•“Girls with boyfriends two or more years older are more than twice as likely to drink; almost six times likelier to get drunk; six times likelier to have tried marijuana; and four and one-half times likelier to smoke than girls whose boyfriends are less than two years older or who do not have a boyfriend.”

“Other striking findings in this year’s survey:”

•“Teens, half or more of whose friends regularly view and download Internet pornography, are more than three times likelier to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs, compared to teens who have no friends who engage in such behavior.”

•“Forty-four percent of high school students think that boys at their school often or sometimes “’push girls to drink alcohol or take drugs in order to get the girls to have sex or do other sexual things.’”

(Casa 2004 Teen Survey, “Sexually Active Friends and Dating Practices Can Signal Increase in a Teen’s Substance Abuse Risk” The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, August 19, 2004, casacolumbia.org)