Recovery Organizations Benefit Teens Too

Ivanhoe Newswire

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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Both Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) can help kids trying to recover from substance abuse.

Results of a new study conducted by researchers from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston show adolescents gain two days of abstinence for every one meeting they attend. The study found even low attendance at meetings helps. For example, kids who went to a meeting just once a week during the first six months following an inpatient program fared better than those who didnt. Attending three times a week equaled complete abstinence.

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Kids who kept up meeting attendance as they got older reaped continuing benefits.

We found that patients who attended more AA and/or NA meetings in the first six months post-treatment had better longer term outcomes, but this early participation effect did not last forever it weakened over time, study author John F. Kelly was quoted as saying. The best outcomes achieved into young adulthood were for those patients who continued to go to AA and/or NA.

All of the teens in the study had been enrolled in one of two inpatient programs in California. The programs lasted between four and six weeks, and the participants were followed up to eight years. Most of the 160 kids in the study attended at least some AA/NA meetings after the inpatient program ended.

Given the need for social affiliation and peer-group acceptance outside of the family at this stage of life, peers can exert strong influence on the behavior of young people, continues Kelly. Organizations such as AA/NA may provide support, and encourage and provide alternatively rewarding sober social activities.

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SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, published online May 31, 2008

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