Soap Producers and Writers Gather to Address Youth Issues in Daytime Dramas at Soap Summit VI

On a beautiful Southern California weekend in October, producers, writers, and network executives from the ten daily daytime dramas gathered at Soap Summit VI to examine and address youth issues that are portrayed in their medium. The Soap Summit is a project of Population Communications International (PCI) and was created seven years ago with the goal of heightening the awareness of the creative community as to its importance in shaping attitudes and behavior in this country.

Soap Summit VI began on Friday evening with a dinner at the Loew's Santa Monica Beach Hotel. The guests were welcomed by Irwin "Sonny" Fox, senior vice-president, PCI, and creator of the Soap Summit, who explained the goals of the Summit and then thanked the three vice presidents of Daytime Television from the networks for their ongoing support of the project. He also praised the audience for putting aside the stresses of recent current events to come and focus on another important issue in society, our youth. David Andrews, president of PCI, then gave a short history of the organization and listed its current international radio and television collaborations. He introduced Ilsabe Bloom from Germany with whom PCI will be bringing the Soap Summit to Europe.

Martin Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center and associate dean, USC Annenberg School for Communication, made an impassioned keynote address to the audience, calling them the "nation's storytellers" and pointing out that the Norman Lear Center views entertainment as the most important force in western societies. He went on to draw connections between all forms of entertainment, whether popular culture or high culture, and the ability of each to transform us through time, our physical space, and our emotions. He challenged the audience by reminding them that as storytellers they have the amazing power "to inflame our fears, educate our hopes, tell us what is good or bad and … to give people for a moment the belief that they will live for another day."

Also at the Friday night event, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) presented its second annual Sentinel for Health Award for Daytime Drama. The award recognizes exemplary portrayals of daytime drama story lines that inform, educate, and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives. The four finalists were "Joe May Be HIV-Positive" from Port Charles; "Ecstasy and Agony" from All My Children; "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome" from Days of Our Lives; and "Raul's Diabetes" from Young and the Restless. The Sentinel for Health award was presented to "Raul's Diabetes," Young and the Restless. On hand to receive the award were Jerry Birn, one of the writers, along with actors David Lago (Raul), Alexis Thorpe (Rianna), and Ashley Bashioum (Mackenzie).

On Saturday morning, the participants settled in to listen to leading experts on adolescence examine how teens are viewed in society -- why we fear them, what we expect from them and how they feel about these pressures. The program included current data on youth risk behavior, the physical and mental health status of young people and the influence of youth relationships -- with parents, each other and the medical community -- on their behavior.

The morning began with a presentation by Dr. Rae Simpson, author of Raising Teens, an analysis of over 300 sources of surveys and research on teenagers. Dr. Simpson is administrator of Parenting Programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and chief consultant to the Harvard Parenting Project within the Center for Health Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Simpson presented insights from academic research on teens and teen behavior. According to Dr. Simpson, there is significant agreement by experts that society views (and the media portrays) teens and teen behavior in a highly negative light - often as rude, selfish, violent, wild and materialistic. Appealing to the entertainment community, she cautioned that these stereotypes are damaging and dangerous. She reminded us that in order for teens to make it through those challenging years, adults need to reach out and struggle with them, not be afraid of them. She then listed and elaborated on the ten tasks that adolescents need to accomplish in order to successfully transition into the adult world and presented the five key things that adults can do to help them accomplish those tasks.

Following Dr. Simpson, Dr. Gordon Berry, professor, Counseling and Educational Psychology, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Los Angeles, once again emphasized the impact that television can have as a teacher of young people by "modeling" behavior for them. Dr. Berry, who studies the impact of television and media on adolescent behavior, stressed the need for parents to help young people learn to be wise consumers of the information they receive from television. He also reiterated the idea that television can be a marvelous teacher when programmed correctly.

To close the first half of the morning session, the audience heard from a lively panel of teenagers. The five teens educated and startled the audience with their frank views on sex and drugs and most importantly their parents. With one exception, the teens all felt that their parents were too protective and too strict and that they were fully capable of making their own decisions regarding these very complex matters.

The second half of the morning was devoted to health care issues for teens. Dr. Laura Kann, Director of the Youth Risk Behaviors Survey, Centers for Disease Control, gave a disturbing presentation about youth health risks. Using a class of 30 students as the sample, Dr. Kann analyzed the class by looking at how many would be at risk for obesity, teen pregnancy, early sexual activity, and smoking. She then looked at the same sample group for risk factors such as teen dating violence, drug use, physical fighting, and teen suicide. The presentation was stark; however, Dr. Kann ended on a hopeful note with a reminder that several of these risk factors, including suicide and homicide are on the decline. She implored the television community to remember that they too can do much to help teach teens the skills they need to know to journey through the maze of adolescence. As an admitted avid soap watcher she exhorted her audience with "and remember, I will be watching."

The final panel of the morning addressed another controversial teen issue - matters of confidentiality for reproductive health services. Most of the audience was surprised to learn that in California (and other states) teens are able to access reproductive health services without parental consent at 12 years and up. The panel of experts included Dr. David Kaplan, pediatrician and chairman of the Adolescent Health Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Dr. Willie Parker, chief of the Maternal and Child Health Division of California; and Claire Brindis, executive director, National Adolescent Health, Center for Reproductive Health. An animated discussion ensued as some audience members voiced concern about their teens ability to access these sensitive services without their knowledge. The experts all concurred that while they certainly encourage their teen patients to involve their parents in these matters (and in fact, most do), these laws are necessary for those teens who could not or would not discuss these issues with their parents. Claire Brindis suggested that it is important for teens to protect themselves and get the reproductive care they need with or without their parents consent.

A highlight of the day was the stunning examination at the Saturday luncheon of a particularly bad mix of drugs that made it on to the streets of Houston. Last August, a deadly outbreak of "speedball," a toxic drug combination of heroin and cocaine, killed seventeen young people in Houston within a 24-hour period. As the death toll mounted from the bad mix of drugs, the investigators began to refer to the case as "Cadena Del Diablo" (Chain of the Devil). Dr. Joye Carter, chief medical examiner, Harris County, Texas, and Sgt. Bill Stephens, Narcotics Division, Houston Police Department, analyzed the case from their different perspectives. Sgt. Stephens tracked the dope from the first dealer to the final street pusher, calling his presentation "Drugs 101." It was a vivid demonstration of how far drugs travel, how many hands they pass through, and how little control or knowledge there is over what is being passed on to the buyer.

While Sgt. Stephens examined the case from the police standpoint, Dr. Carter analyzed the case from the Medical Examiner's office and demonstrated how her office was able to determine that there was a "bad" drug on the street and that the public had to be notified. The clear warning from both the presenters was that, aside from the inherent danger of using drugs, people who buy drugs have no guarantee of what they are buying and ultimately ingesting. Each of these young people thought that they were buying pure cocaine. Instead they died from accidentally taking the deadly "speedball" combination.

The day ended with three breakout sessions that allowed the Soap Summit participants the opportunity to interface with the panelists and go into more detail about their particular topic of interest. The panels focused on teen behaviors with Dr. Rae Simpson, Dr. Gordon Berry and the teen panelists; teen health risks with Drs. Parker and Kaplan, and Claire Brindis; and drug risks with Sgt. Stephens, Joye Carter, and a 17-year-old recovering drug addict from the Phoenix House program.

The Soap Summit ended at 4 PM with the participants exhausted but exhilarated by the stimulating sessions and the abundance of information that was presented. The daytime drama community left the Summit once again reminded of the powerful medium that they utilize to impart their message and the opportunity they have to have a substantial impact on the attitudes and behavior of the audiences.

"The conference was wonderfully informative and thought provoking. I'm sure it will have an ongoing impact on my writing; specifically in the ways I address health issues."

Michael Slade, writer,
One Life to Live