Teenage girls may be more open to using alcohol and drugs than before, according to a survey by the Partnership for a Drug Free America. The 2009 survey finds that girls are more inclined than ever to use alcohol and drugs to control their emotions. The survey found that 53 percent of girls believed that drugs "help you forget your troubles." That number is a five percent increase from the 2008 survey.
The survey examines changes in substance use and attitudes. It found the use of alcohol and marijuana rose considerably more among girls than boys between 2008 and 2009. Since the previous survey, fewer teen girls had a negative view of drug use by their friends. In addition, fewer teenage girls considered ecstasy addictive.
"There’s been a change in the culture," said Dr. Marc Galanter, director of the division of alcoholism and drug abuse at the New York University’s Langone Medical Center. He was not involved with the Partnership for a Drug Free America study.
"Women previously had more constrained roles in terms of the propriety of indulging in behaviors such as public intoxication and the like. Now with women in the workforce and becoming more liberated, they are not so constrained," Galanter said.
The Partnership for a Drug Free America study was sponsored by the MetLife Foundation and found that alcohol use by girls increased 11 percent, but there was no significant increase among boys. While more girls (59 percent) than boys (52 percent) drink alcohol, boys still use more drugs than girls.
"It’s really another sign of a changing landscape in America," said Steve Pasierb, the Partnership’s president and CEO. "Drug use has become tactical…kids say ‘I’m doing this to manage my life, to escape the pressures in school, to deal with stress.’"
