Reality Gap:
Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex—What Parents
Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling
Reality Gap, a popular book by SADD’s immediate past Chairman and CEO Stephen Wallace, paints an alarming portrait of a modern-day adolescence filled with potentially deadly behaviors carefully hidden from the view of parents and other adults. But it is also a book about hope and inspiration, pointing to the incredibly powerful role that parents and other mentors can play in the lives of young people and highlighting the tremendous contributions that many teens are making to their families, schools, and communities.
Combining stories from today’s teens with original, groundbreaking research conducted by SADD, Reality Gap offers an intriguing analysis of the adolescent decision-making process and shares important conclusions.
Most critically, the book shares common-sense solutions and practical steps for parents and other important adults, such as teachers, coaches, counselors, and health care providers, to use in their relationships with teens.
Reality Gap reveals:
- When certain behaviors are most likely to peak
- What factors most influence good and bad choices
- The role of development on decision-making
- The influence of parental expectations and modeling on teen behaviors
- How positive risk-taking can make negative risk-taking less likely
- Recognition of important life transitions as a way to reduce destructive behavior
You’ll also find advice for how and when to talk about drinking, impaired driving, sex, drug use, depression, suicide, and bullying – including Wallace’s five essential elements of successful communication.
“Wallace examines the turbulent changes wrought by adolescence in terms of physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. He devotes the latter part of his work to proactive strategies for dispelling myths that keep parents in ‘blissful ignorance’ – about the availability of drugs and alcohol, for one thing. Wallace’s hands-on research and in-depth interviews are tremendously useful, as are his discussions of the role of the media and the mixed signals gleaned from parents.”
- Publisher’s Weekly
Reality Gap is now available for $20 plus $5 shipping and handling (a portion of the proceeds benefit SADD). Consider purchasing and donating Reality Gap to your school’s library or media center or giving it as a gift to a friend, neighbor, coworker, or loved one.
Need to use a purchase order? No problem! Please contact Nicole Cheschi at SADD National at 1-877-SADD-INC, ext. 222 or ncheschi@sadd.org.
For more information about Reality Gap, including upcoming bookstore signings, visit www.RealityGapTheBook.com.
