Be careful what you say about your party days

It’s no secret that your teenager’s peers can affect his or her decision to drink underage. But what if the influential teen is you-at age 16?  As part of a science talent search, 17-year-old Chelsea Jurman, of Roslyn Heights, New York, surveyed 123 of her classmates. Her results suggest that teen attitudes toward drinking and their drinking behavior correlate with their perception of their parents’ teenage alcohol use. In other words, if your teen believes you threw back a few choice beverages in your younger days, he or she is more likely to imbibe than is a pal whose parents were teatotallers. As Jurman aptly put it, ""When you’re a teenager, perception is reality and what they take away from the conversation is, ‘If my parents drank as teens and they turned out all right, then this must mean it’s O.K. for me to drink, too.’ "Jurman’s study garnered her a winning place in the Intel Science Talent Search and a trip to D.C. to meet the President. Given her success, one can only assume that her parents were social science wunderkinds!