DRINKING ISN'T COOL

Drinking where kids don't fit in

Kids' drinking is illegal and bad for them, but a lot of kids do it anyway, and some do it to sort of fit in. However, a study indicates kids who drink may instead find themselves not fitting in.

At the University of Texas at Austin, Robert Crosnoe looked at survey data on about 8,000 seventh- through 12^th graders in 126 schools. He says kids who drank and who attended schools where drinking was not considered cool reported feeling more socially isolated in the next year. And he says it can affect their grades.

"It's the combination of drinking and not fitting socially that tends to most identify the teenagers who are doing the worst academically."

The study in the Journal of Health and Behavior was supported by the National Institutes of Health.