CATCHING UP TO THE BOYS, IN THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Teen Girls' Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Use on the Rise

She lost count of the vodka shots. It was New Year's Eve 2005, and
for this high school freshman, it was time to party. She figured
she'd be able to sleep it off -- she'd done it before. But by the
time she got home the next day, her head was still pounding, her
mouth was dry, and she couldn't focus. This time, the symptoms were
obvious even to her parents.

After that night, she realized the weekend buzzes had gone from being
a maybe to a must.

"Before, it was a novelty," the Silver Spring teen said. "It went
from, 'Well, maybe . . .' to 'Oh, I know I'm going to drink this weekend.' "

A generation of parents and educators have pushed to ensure that
girls have the same opportunities as their male counterparts, with
notable results. In 2007, for example, it was girls who dominated the
national math and science competition sponsored by Siemens. But a
growing number of reports show that the message of equality might
have a downside.

Teenage girls now equal or outpace teenage boys in alcohol
consumption, drug use and smoking, national surveys show. The number
of girls entering the juvenile justice system has risen steadily over
the past few years. A 2006 study that examined accident rates among
young drivers noted that although boys get into more car accidents,
girls are slowly beginning to close the gap.

A 17-year-old Charles County girl was charged last month with
reckless and negligent driving in a Nov. 28 accident in which a
15-year-old girl was killed. In June, a 20-year-old student at George
Mason University traveling west on the inner loop of the Capital
Beltway near the Springfield interchange drove her convertible into a
tractor-trailer. She and three friends were killed. Then, in
September, a 17-year-old Fairfax County girl was charged with
aggravated involuntary manslaughter after she drove her sport-utility
vehicle head-on into a van, killing a 59-year-old woman.

"When you take off the shackles, you release all kind of energy --
negative and positive," said James Garbarino, the Maude C. Clarke
Chair in Humanistic Psychology at Loyola University in Chicago. "By
letting girls loose to experience America more fully, it's not
surprising that they would absorb some of its toxic environment."

The teenager with the vodka hangover, who is now 16, was one of
several Washington region teenage girls who agreed to talk about
their lives and what compels them to drink, smoke or indulge in
behaviors that might make their parents blanch. They asked that their
names not be used so they could speak frankly.

In the same breath, the young women talked about feeling "empowered"
because they can choose from myriad colleges and careers and about
how that "freedom" extends to partying at clubs, drinking and
smoking. Experts worry that those feelings, coupled with a teen's
natural sense of invincibility, can be a potent and dangerous
combination. Indeed, the teenage girls interviewed by The Washington
Post seemed almost blase about the potential consequences.

"People tell me all the time [smoking] isn't good for me," said an
18-year-old from Bethesda, rolling her eyes. But in her mind, that's
30 years down the line. Same with the drinking (she prefers
champagne) and the occasional recreational drug.

"In the past, people have had this angelic picture, but girls are
just as bad as boys are," she said. "We do what we want to do, when
we want to do it."

"I live for now," she said, a grin spreading across her face. "It's
great to be a girl."

Experts say there is no single explanation for why more teenage girls
are deciding to experiment with drugs or why some are getting into
fights. However, they do note that society's expectations about
girlhood have changed dramatically over the years. Annette
Funicello's wholesome beach blanket antics have given way to Britney
Spears's latest meltdown.

"The why of what's happening is in part a direct response to the
advances that we're making as a society around gender equity," said
Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a professor of public health at Harvard
University. If society offers girls and boys the same opportunities,
that means they're exposed to the good as well as the bad, she said.

"We really have to ask the questions, 'Why wouldn't you expect girls
to behave [like boys]?' Girls and women are closing all the other
gaps," Prothrow-Stith said.

Experts who work with teenage girls, particularly those in the
Washington region, say more options can also equal more stress. A
2005 poll, conducted by The Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and
Harvard found that more than four in 10 local high school girls said
they "frequently" experienced stress in their daily lives, compared
with fewer than three in 10 nationally.

"Our lives are so crazy, and kids are looking for something when they
feel" stressed, said Beverly Parker-Lewis, a clinical psychologist
with the Fairfax County public schools. "Sometimes, the result is
negative behavior."

Teenagers say pressure is a factor. The 18-year-old remembered being
so overwhelmed by the pressure to be a perfect student that, at one
point, she couldn't get out of bed. The 16-year-old talked about how
both academic and peer pressure prompted her to take up drinking as
an outlet for her stress.

Girls "work so hard to prove themselves all the time," said Christine
Whitaker, a therapist with Metropolitan Counseling Associates in
Bethesda. "Then, when the weekend comes, they blow it all out."

And teenagers are surrounded by a mix of messages. On one hand, their
parents and teachers tell them not to drink, smoke or do drugs, but
on the other hand, music and such television shows as "Gossip Girl"
and "The Hills" showcase teens indulging in just such behavior.

According to a 2006 survey by the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, girls between the ages
of 12 and 17 were at equal or higher risk of substance abuse compared
with boys. That same year, the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy found that the number of girls who smoke or abuse
prescription drugs had surpassed that of boys. More troubling: The
increase in drug usage among girls comes at a time when overall
numbers for teenage drug abuse are on the decline.

Sue Foster, vice president and director of policy research and
analysis at CASA, said these behaviors can be especially dangerous
for girls because of the different ways in which their bodies process
substances. One drink for a woman is the equivalent of two for a man.
CASA researchers found that girls and women "are also likely to
become addicted to alcohol, nicotine, illegal and prescription drugs
and develop substance-abuse related diseases at lower levels of use
and in shorter periods of time."

The 16-year-old said her vodka hangover made her realize that
drinking was starting to dominate her life. It was affecting her
grades and friendships. Slowly, with the help of a counselor, she
began to set limits for herself. She stopped hanging around with
friends who liked to drink and found a new crowd. She still drinks on
weekends, but it has ceased to be a "must" in her life, she said.

A recent study, conducted by emergency medicine physicians at the
Center for Trauma and Injury Prevention Research at the University of
California at Irvine medical school, examined accident rates of young
drivers between 2000 and 2004 and found that although boys have more
accidents, young female drivers appear to be closing the gap.

"It used to be that girls had far fewer accidents and speeding
tickets and were considered to be better risks," said Carolyn Gorman,
vice president of the Insurance Information Institute. "But over the
last 15 to 20 years, girls have been catching up with boys."

Those who work with adolescents say that as people become more aware
of the trends affecting girls, the key will be to find ways to address them.

Because teenage boys have been considered the traditional culprits,
"young women are falling between the cracks," said Virginia Tsai, a
physician with the UC-Irvine study.

Rebecca Kullback, a colleague of Whitaker's who is co-founder of
Metropolitan Counseling Associates in Bethesda, said parents need to
rethink the messages they're sending their daughters and teach them
how to better manage their stresses. Other experts say that those who
work with adolescents need to better tailor intervention programs to
be effective for girls as well as boys.

But the real challenge of reaching the teen girl demographic might be
persuading girls that their behavior could have consequences -- if
not now, somewhere down the line.

When asked why they drink, the 18-year-old and a friend paused for a
moment before summing up the appeal in one succinct statement:

"Life," the 18-year-old declared, as her friend chimed in, "is better
with a buzz."