Teaching Teens to Manage Personality Traits May Reduce Problem Drinking (1/29/13)

High school programs that teach teens to better manage their personality traits can help reduce and postpone problem drinking, a new study suggests.

“Two factors determine problem drinking: personality and peer pressure,” said study author Dr. Patricia Conrod of King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry. “Teaching young people how to better manage their personality traits or vulnerabilities helps them make the right decisions in given situations, whether it is a matter of overcoming their fears, managing thoughts that make them very emotional, controlling their compulsions, analyzing objectively the intentions of others or improving their self-perception.”

In the two-year study, high school staff in London worked with ninth-grade students, who were divided into two groups. One group participated in a personality-based intervention program run by school staff, while the second group received the standard United Kingdom drug and alcohol curriculum. All of the students’ drinking patterns were examined.

Source: NewsWise Online