EARLY PRESSURES TIED TO DRUG ABUSE

It might seem like just another ho-hum statistic in the world of substance
abuse research: Nearly 30 percent of students reported getting completely
drunk at least once in the past year.

Except these students were only 13 years old, and lived in an affluent
suburb in the Northeast where the typical family earns more than $100,000 a
year.

In a study published in the academic journal Child Development, researchers
paint a troubling picture of early and excessive substance-abuse among
well-to-do adolescents, triggered, they found, by social isolation and the
pressure - even at such an early age - to get into a top college.

"There's such a strong emphasis on getting into excellent colleges," said
Columbia University psychology professor Suniya S. Luthar, coauthor of the
study. "The preparation starts quite early in these children's lives."

Her study goes further than others in explaining why teen substance use is
on the rise in suburbia, in many cases eclipsing drug use in lower-income
urban areas.

In 1999, Luthar conducted one of the first studies to analyze teen alcohol
and drug use based on socioeconomic class. She found that upper-income
suburban youth often used more drugs and alcohol than their poorer urban
peers. For instance, roughly one out of every three high school sophomore
girls in the suburbs used some kind of illicit substance in the preceding
year, about twice the rate of their urban counterparts.

Luthar said past studies have shown that suburban teens consistently refer
to alcohol and drugs as a way to comfort them from the stresses of life, as
opposed to urban youth who tended to focus on its damaging effects.
"Self-medication is more likely to be a suburban phenomenon," she said.

In her latest study, "Privileged But Pressured? A Study of Affluent Youth,"
Luthar examined more than 300 students in sixth and seventh grade who lived
in one of the most affluent suburbs in the Northeast, which she would not
name for privacy reasons. The group was overwhelmingly white.

They completed questionnaires about their alcohol and drug use, their
family relationships, as well as their emotional well-being. Participants
were also asked to rank how much their parents valued different
achievements or qualities, such as getting good grades, securing a high
income in the future, being an honest person or giving to others.

Overall, Luthar found high levels of stress - and substance use - among
those youngsters who reported the most pressure to achieve academically and
in extracurricular activities. Distress levels were also high among those
who had the least after-school adult supervision.

She found alcohol use rose markedly when boys and girls went from sixth to
seventh grade. For instance, 35 percent of seventh-grade girls reported
drinking alcohol at least once in the preceding year, compared to 11
percent of the sixth-grade girls.

The rate of substance use among boys also went up similarly from sixth to
seventh grade, but the most striking difference was their level of heavy
drinking. Among seventh-grade boys, 28 percent reported "drinking to
intoxication" compared to 6 percent of sixth-grade boys. Among
seventh-grade girls, 9 percent reported getting drunk, compared to 1
percent for the sixth-graders.

One finding was particularly troubling for affluent boys, Luthar said. She
found that boys who drank had a higher social status than those who did not.

"Even though we tell our youngsters, 'Just say no,' they are getting an
equally powerful message among their peers: Substance use is cool," she said.

Public health specialists are generally stumped by the high substance abuse
among suburban teens - particularly those with all apparent advantages,
opportunities, and wealth - compared to peers at the opposite end of the
socioeconomic spectrum, said Thomas Clark, a research associate at Health
and Addictions Research, a nonprofit research firm. While only a few
studies look at youth drug use based on family economic status, Clark said,
national studies consistently show that drug use among white teens exceeds
that of African-American and Hispanic youth.

He said some research suggests that wealthier teens may simply be tempted
to experiment because they have the access to and financial means to buy
alcohol or drugs. Some researchers also say that urban youth are often more
tied to religious backgrounds or new-immigrant status, which makes them
less likely to take risks.

Local pediatricians and researchers say the high rates of substance use
among affluent teens may reveal a kind of breakdown of social connections
in the suburbs, particularly in families where parents have demanding jobs.

"For many kids in urban areas, there is a richer sense of being part of a
community," said Dr. Eli Newberger, a pediatrician at Harvard Medical
School and author of a new book about character development in boys. "These
urban neighborhoods may be marginalized, but young people there often
develop a sense of cohesion and brotherhood."

Newberger said the latest trends in suburban drug use show that teens in
these neighborhoods, as well as all areas, need an adult they can trust,
someone who can intervene if they need help.

Luthar agreed, adding that parents in well-to-do communities are often too
prideful to admit there are problems within their families and neglect
their role in getting help for their children.

"Even in affluent communities, you don't get a 13-year-old signing
themselves in for treatment," she said.