Want more friends? Drink more alcohol. That’s the unfortunate conclusion of new research from the country’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service’s Administration’s Center for Behavior Health Statistics and Quality.

According to experts from the organization, kids who drink have higher “social connectedness” than their more sober peers, and getting drunk can increase teens’ social standing even more.

Researchers aren’t suggesting that teens should run out and guzzle beer to become more popular—just opposite. They note that underage drinking “is linked to a long list of adverse health and behavioral consequences,” but when it comes to increasing one’s social standing, many teens chuck such concerns and engage in whatever might make them more popular.

The key to reversing these trends, according to experts, is parents and adult role models. Previous studies have shown that moms and dads can be instrumental in keeping their kids away from drugs and alcohol.

“Adults often avoid teens like the plague, but then we’re surprised when, left to their own devices, they develop values with which we’re not comfortable,” says Joseph P. Allen of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “If we don’t engage with teens—by getting them involved in volunteer service, encouraging their participation in civic activities and debates and just talking to them—then we can’t be too surprised when their values are largely those that appear in the online and popular media.” (Reuters)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.