Girls Inc. Friendly
PEERsuasion responds to the needs of girls ages 11 to14 because it
approaches drug abuse prevention as a peer issue, using the positive
influence of young people modeling healthy behavior. Participants
build communication skills, learn to recognize stress, and practice
responding to stress in healthy ways. Girls learn about tobacco,
alcohol, prescription and over-the-counter medications, nutritional
supplements, and illicit drugs. They analyze media messages that
glamorize substance use. The participants also plan and implement
substance use prevention activities for groups of younger children
ages 6 through 10. This opportunity to serve as leaders and mentors
reinforces the older girls' commitment to avoiding substance use.
Consider these facts:
In 2000, 7% of girls in grade 8 and 30% of girls in grades 9 to12
reported currently using tobacco products.
Among young women who currently smoke, 92.3% believe persons can
get addicted to cigarettes, and yet 23.8% think it is safe to smoke
one to two years and then quit.
Of high-school-aged young women who currently smoke, 20% think smokers
have more friends; 12.4% think smokers look cool.
The percentage of 8th grade girls who use marijuana has nearly tripled
in the last decade from 5% in 1991 to 14% in 2000.
By the time girls reach their senior year in high school, 34% report
periodic heavy drinking.
The use of diet pills is dramatically higher among young women than
it is among young men. In 2000, 27% of young women in grade 12 reported
some experience with diet pills.
More adolescent girls than boys reported feeling
a lot of stress, and more say they use cigarettes (66% versus 49%)
and alcohol (38%versus 27%) to deal with stress.
Contact Us gi@girlsinc-houston.org 
