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    Navigate: FAQ Home Page > Drinking > Drinking and peer pressure
    Posted on: 01/04/2004

    Question

    i got a minor! i just had court today and one of my sentences was to make a list of ways to avoid alcohol, i need 25 ways can u help me find information or give me some tips. this is my 1st offence ever, can i get information about peer pressure too?

    Answer

    Finding 25 ways to avoid alcohol shouldn't be too hard, but here are some tips:

    - avoid situations where alcohol is the center of attention, i.e. people are getting together just to drink

    - do not ride in cars in which people are transporting alcohol, and certainly avoid driving with anyone who has been drinking.

    - hang out with friends who don't pressure you to drink

    - get involved in activities that you like, often people drink because they don't have anything better to do

    - choose not to drink alcohol, even if it is offered to you... sometimes this can be difficult because of peer pressure

    - when you're sixteen drinking can be a way to prove to yourself and others that you are grown up and "cool," if your friends are drinking they may expect you to drink, and you may be worried that if you say no, they won't accept you. If they really won't accept you if you don't drink, then they clearly don't care about you very much, and you could use some new friends.

    Finally, in thinking of those 25 ways, first write down all of the ones that you think of off the top of your head. Then fill in the rest by imagining scenarios where you might be tempted or pressured to drink, and then describe how you would avoid that situation or choose not to drink.

    Hope that helps.


    Answered By:
    Nancy Brown , Ed.S, M.A., Ph.D.


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