KIDS' CONSENSUS: POPULARITY SHAPES BEHAVIOR

Most young people believe that it's the popular kids who drink alcohol.
Huffing and carrying a gun? So uncool, according to a new survey of teens
and young adults.

The national analysis released this past weekend at the Adolescent Risk
Conference at the University of Pennsylvania looked to find which risky
behaviors kids believed were associated with popularity.

The most significant finding involved drinking: 57% of young people ages
14-22 say popular kids are more likely to drink alcohol. Only 9% believe
unpopular kids are likely to drink; about a third say popularity made no
difference.

Smoking, drug use and drinking alcohol are generally declining among U.S.
youth. But peer pressure and the desire to be "popular" are enormously
powerful in shaping kids' behaviors.

"When you associate behavior with popularity, it makes the products more
desirable," says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public
Policy Center, which conducted the survey.

With teens, "something always rises to the top as the 'in-thing,' the cool
thing, and it can rapidly shift. Right now, it's alcohol," says Robert
Evans, a pioneer in risk-taking behavior research.

Because alcohol is a legitimized drug - legal, highly advertised, with some
studies showing a few drinks are good for the heart - curbing youth
drinking is more difficult than addressing other risky behaviors, he says.

When it comes to smoking cigarettes and marijuana, though, young people
surveyed are split on the link to popularity. The same number of kids -
about 40% - associate those behaviors with popular kids as those who think
popularity doesn't make a difference. Significantly fewer (20%) believe
unpopular kids are more likely to smoke cigarettes or pot.

Other findings of the survey of 900 young people:

* Three out of four (74%) think popular kids are likely to engage in at
least one of four risky behaviors (cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol, gambling).

* Nearly half associate huffing (inhaling fumes) and owning a gun with
unpopularity; about a third say popularity makes no difference.

* Kids who know the dangers of the behaviors are just as likely to link
them to popularity as those who don't think they are dangerous. For
example, 39% of kids who say smoking is very risky think popular peers are
more likely to smoke; 40% of those who think there is very little risk in
smoking believe popular peers will smoke.