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For many high school and college kids, a rite of passage has arrived; a vacation that delights teenagers and scares the daylights out of parents – spring break. Drugs, alcohol and sex can make these vacations very dangerous.

What does spring break mean for many teenagers?

“Kids getting drunk on the beach,” says 19-year-old Michelle Mui.

“People getting naked,” says 21-year-old Duan Dempsey.

“Passing out and waking up somewhere you don’t want to be,” says 20-year-old Schuyler Maxey, “ or with someone you don’t want to be with.”

In fact, according to a poll by the American Medical Association, 74-percent of college girls said they use spring break as an excuse for “outrageous” behavior.

“They feel they have to follow a script, and that you have to be one particular way or another,” explains psychologist Dr. Robert Simmermon, “that you kind of give up being the actual person that you are and you’re ‘the kid on spring break’.”

Cathy Fink, Director of the Underage Drinking Task Force, agrees. “[The community thinks] ‘yeah, it’s an expected adolescent rite of passage.’ It isn’t. It’s illegal and harmful behavior.”

Fink says that, for parents of high school kids, the phrase ‘drink responsibly’ is an oxymoron. “You can’t teach a teenager to drink responsibly, because then you’re teaching them to break the law,” she says, “and that’s not responsible behavior.”

She says it is also a mistake for parents to let their kids go to spring break alone. “I don’t think you can waffle on it. I think that parents need to say, ‘you know if we’re going to spring break, we’re going as a family’.”

But if you do give your permission, experts say you should make your expectations clear to your kids, years before you let them go.

“I don’t think there’s much we can say as parents, as they’re walking out the door to go on spring break, that’s going to change their values or their behavior,” says Simmermon, “That’s already been done.”

15-year-old Marcia Adams knows from experience.

“It can get out of control,” she says, “so you just have to take care of yourself and make sure you do the right thing.”

What We Need To Know

• Make your expectations clear at a very early age. Set limits and rules regarding all behaviors at home and away from home. (Dr. Robert Simmermon, psychologist)




• Be aware of what happens on spring break. There are many websites and television shows that document the heavy drinking and sexual activities that occur. (Cathy Fink, Underage Drinking Task Force Director)




• The reasons why adolescents use alcohol are complex – but include curiosity, a need to fit in with friends, and a desire to relax and escape problems. Explain to your children the dangers of alcohol use, starting at a very young age. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)




• Explain to your teens the relationship between drinking and sexual assault. Alcohol lowers people’s inhibitions, impairs good decision-making, and hinders the ability to communicate clearly. It can also increase a teen’s vulnerability – by making resistance to unwanted advances or assault difficult or ineffective. (Stanford University)

Resources

• American Medical Association: “Sex and intoxication among women more common on spring break, according to AMA poll”




• Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center




• Bacchus & Gamma Peer Education Network

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