PEER PRESSURE 'DYNAMITE'

Peer group pressure was dynamite when it came to drugs and young
people, a public forum heard yesterday.

Trevor Crowe, clinical director of the Berkeley-based treatment centre
Kedesh House, said even children and teenagers from supportive
families were at risk of being led astray by peers.

``If you come from the most closely bonded, caring family with good
crisis management skills and end up with an unhelpful or negative peer
group you can still develop alcohol and drug problems,'' Mr Crowe said.

Parents could minimise the risk of their child being adversely
influenced by being good communicators, taking an active interest in
their child and improving homelife.

``If parents don't know where their kids are, who they are with, and
what they are up to, then that becomes a risk,'' he said.

``Part of adolescence is to break away from family and explore and
develop an individual identity. Peer groups may be attractive because
home is not a very pleasant place to be.''

Mr Crowe, who spoke at the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Drug and Alcohol
Summit public forum, said young people often felt they were not
listened to and did not have a voice at home, or they were being dominated.

``On the one hand, parental neglect and not knowing where kids are is
a risk factor but the opposite is also a risk,'' he said.

Parents also had to look at underlying reasons as to why peer groups
might be attractive to their child, such as personality factors and
mental health issues.