Help for Parents of Struggling Teens

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Youth CareYouth Care
The idea of sending your child away from home can be daunting. Youth Care is a home away from home. Our intensive, therapeutic program is licensed to treat children and adolescents with such issues as depression, substance use, thought disorders, social withdrawal, and learning disabilities. If you want your child to receive intensive therapeutic and academic support in a place that feels like home, Youth Care is the right choice.

Youth Care offers a home-like setting is much more nurturing than a hospital-type setting and a high ratio of teachers to students in top-notch academic program. School success is a primary goal of treatment for adolescents while at Youth Care.

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Parents Tend to Underestimate Younger Teens' Drug and Liquor Habits

A new study from the University of Buffalo found that parents underestimate their younger teens' drinking and drug habits, although they are more accurate about teens older than 15 years. Parents who are under a lot of stress and who drink themselves are particularly unaware of how often their teens drink or use drugs.

Dr. Neil McGillicuddy and his colleagues interviewed 75 parents and their teenagers over a six-month period. Previous studies looked at teens in substance treatment programs or families with no substance abuse issues. This was the first study of parents under stress because of their teens' substance abuse, with none enrolled in treatment programs.

Parents caught up in their own issues gave less accurate estimates of their children's problems. Parents who did not monitor what their teens were doing in their free time after school and on weekends were also more likely to underestimate their children's use of illicit substances.

This study appears in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse.

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