STUDY: GIRLS AT HIGHER RISK THAN BOYS FOR SUBSTANCE ADDICTION

National Center's Chief Suggests End To Unisex Approach To Treatment

WASHINGTON (AP) - Girls and young women get hooked on cigarettes, alcohol
and drugs more quickly and for different reasons than boys and should
receive specialized treatment, according to a study released Wednesday.

Teenage girls often begin smoking and drinking to relieve stress or
alleviate depression, and boys do it for thrills or heightened social
status, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
at Columbia University.

Girls "get hooked faster, they get hooked using lesser amounts of alcohol
and drugs and cocaine, and they suffer the consequences faster and more
severely," said Joseph Califano, chairman of the center.

He said prevention and treatment centers need to design programs to deal
with the risk factors leading to female substance abuse.

"With some exceptions, the substance abuse prevention programs have really
been designed with a unisex, one-size-fits-both-sexes mentality," said Mr.
Califano, who served as Health and Human Services secretary under President
Jimmy Carter. "We now know that girls are different than boys - let's
recognize it, and let's help them."

Florida first lady Columba Bush, whose daughter Noelle is struggling with
substance abuse, said that if parents and educators understand that girls
are more vulnerable and need different treatment, "we can save millions of
young girls and women from the agony of addiction."

Mrs. Bush is married to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Bush's brother.

The study, based on a nationwide survey of more than 1,200 females age 8 to
22, found little difference in the percentage of boys and girls who smoke,
drink and use drugs.

About 45 percent of high school girls drink alcohol, compared with 49
percent of boys, and girls outpace boys in the use of prescription drugs.

Researchers found that girls are more likely to abuse substances if they
reached puberty early, had eating disorders or were ever physically or
sexually abused. Their likelihood of using cigarettes, alcohol or drugs
also increases if their families move often or when girls advance from
middle school to high school or from high school to college.

As they reach puberty and develop into teenagers, "girls are likelier than
boys to compare themselves physically and academically to their new peers,
increasing the doubts they feel about themselves," the study said.

Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.,
voiced support for the study's main recommendation - that parents,
educators and doctors become familiar with the warning signs and intervene
quickly with girls at risk.

Mrs. Clinton said she would introduce legislation to boost public awareness
of prescription drug abuse and force hospitals to better track the problem.

The study faults alcohol and tobacco companies for promoting products by
linking them to glamorous models, and it calls for a ban on alcohol
advertising on television and cigarette and alcohol advertising in
magazines that have large numbers of young readers.

Dr. Michael Nuccitelli, a psychologist who runs a substance abuse treatment
facility in Brewster, N.Y., questioned some of the study's findings. He
doesn't believe women become addicted to alcohol more easily, noting there
have been far more men in his program over the years.

He agreed with the study's finding of a link between eating disorders and
certain types of substance abuse among females.