Parents Matter

Manhasset CASA invites parents, students and residents to attend It’s a Fact…Parents Do Matter on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Manhasset High School. The “myth busting” presentation features Dr. Robert Turrisi from Penn State University’s Parent Resource Center will discuss how parents can influence their teen’s decision to abstain from drinking alcohol before the age of 21.
“Decades of research show that there is no safe way to ‘teach’ teens how to drink responsibly,” said Dr. Turrisi. “A clear no-use message is the most effective way for parents to help keep teens safe from the many dangers associated with underage alcohol use. This issue is too important to leave to chance and hope for the best.”
In Manhasset High School, 12th graders self-report binge drinking at 2.5 times the national rate (e.g. having 5 or more alcoholic drinks in a row) and 10th graders report binge drinking at almost 2 times the national rate.* In 2013, 25 Manhasset youth between the ages of 12–21 were treated and released in emergency rooms for alcohol, marijuana and/or a mixture of drugs (New York State Healthcare Data Bank SPARCs Data Reporting System). In addition, 10th and 12th grade students report using alcohol at house parties – both with and without a parent’s permission. (*2013 Bach Harri-son Prevention Needs Assessment Survey).
Dr. Turrisi is an expert on the role parent-adolescent relationships play in the prevention of underage drinking. He was on NBC’s Dateline and has co-authored several books and received numerous awards for his work in prevention science.