American children with money and privileges are more likely to consume alcohol

Watch the documentary of CBSN Originals "Drinking culture: American children and the danger of being coolIn the video player above, the first specials will be held on Sunday, September 15th at 8 pm, 11 pm and 2 pm ET on Sunday, September 15th.

In America, many epidemics endanger our children. Some, like opioids and vapotage, are relatively new. Others, like binge drinkinghave been around for decades, but the nature of the crisis has evolved.

The drinking bouts have normalized among high school students and American students to a point that would shock many parents. CBSN's new documentary Originals, "Drinking Culture: American Children and the Danger of Being Cool", explains in detail why so many teens consider it "cool" to take excessive drinking. alcohol and how this perception has contributed to the prevalence of disturbing phenomena like the "black-out" and sexual assault related to alcohol.

And while the problem is widespread, some American children are more likely than others to participate. Experts say in particular that economic privilege is a factor.

"Some studies have shown that many children who grow up in affluent suburbs grow up in communities where the the adults around them are drinking a lot. And they will model this behavior, "says Dr. Laurence Steinberg, professor of psychology at Temple University. They may also have access to alcohol from the alcohol that their parents bought and have at home. So, you know, we often think that money and privileges are a condition of protection. But I think that in this case, it can be associated with a really more dangerous behavior. "

"They have access to money," says Julie Fenn, a social worker in the Massachusetts public school system. "In households where both parents have university degrees or high school diplomas, there is a higher rate of alcohol consumption among children … Highly educated parents will think that their children will never do so Or they work or travel and the kids are left more to themselves or are not being watched so closely.Then you see higher rates of alcohol abuse.You can see that the system of Monitoring youth risk behavior is more effective nationally – communities whose socio-economic status is high of that. "

And it's not just a privilege. The data show that race also plays a role.

"In general, African-American children are less likely to consume alcohol," said Steinberg, an internationally recognized expert on psychological development and risk-taking in adolescence. "And white kids and Latino kids are more susceptible to drinking. "

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines excessive binge drinking as four drinks for women and five for men over a two-hour period. In a survey conducted by the CDC in 2017, 13.5% of high school students reported excessive drinking at least once in the last 30 days. For white teens, this figure was 15.7%, compared with 14% for young Hispanics and just 5.6% for black teenagers.

According to Steinberg, the differences are rooted in socialization and culture.

"I think we are socialized to have particular attitudes towards alcohol, like anything else." And alcohol is not as tolerated by the African-American community, in terms of something that overestimates, so I think we are all raised with the values ​​that we have given our parents and other people with whom we associate, and to the extent that these values ​​and attitudes are shaped by culture, you will find cultural, racial and national differences in the extent of occasional heavy drinking and other types of alcohol consumption. "

At all levels, teens are more likely than adults to dangerous behavior. Their brain is still growing. And the neurological domains responsible for essential skills like judgment and decision-making are always changing. Biology, however, is not the only factor at play. And in this case, it seems that socioeconomic factors also play an important role in predicting susceptibility to alcohol abuse.

"Even though adolescence is a risky period of human development, it is a period characterized by more problems in some parts of the world than in others," Steinberg said. "So, let's take, say, the example of Asia." Many teenagers in this country do not engage in the same kind of risky and reckless behavior, so even though I find it tempting to look at the adolescent brain as an explanation of everything, we can not deny the important role that culture plays ".