Children whose parents give them sips of alcohol ‘more likely’ to drink as teens

 

But they are less likely to binge drink than adolescents who get alcohol from friends or siblings, researchers find

 

Source: The Guardian

Melissa Davey

5 January 2017

 

Children who are given alcohol by their parents are more likely to be drinking full serves of alcohol by the time they are 15 or 16, a study published in the journal Psychological Medicine found.

 

But they were less likely to binge drink than children who got alcohol from other sources, such as siblings or older friends, the study also found.

 

Researchers led by the University of NSW wanted to explore the impact on a child’s drinking habits when their parents adopted the so-called European model of introducing children to alcohol by allowing them sips of their alcoholic drinks.

 

“Parents are a major supplier of alcohol to adolescents, yet there is limited research examining the impact of this on adolescent alcohol use,” the paper, published on Thursday, said.

 

The researchers recruited 1,927 adolescents in year 7 from schools in Sydney, Perth and Hobart and followed them over four years, measuring their consumption of alcohol, including binge drinking which is considered having more than four drinks in one session.

 

The youths were also asked who supplied their alcohol, and one parent for each child was also surveyed annually.

 

After adjusting for factors known to influence adolescent drinking, including family structure, family conflict and personality traits, the researchers found parents supplying alcohol doubled the likelihood that teens would be drinking full serves of alcohol one year later.

 

But those who were supplied alcohol from sources other than their parents, such as by friends or siblings, were three times more likely to binge drink.

 

“These parentally-supplied children also consumed fewer drinks on a typical drinking occasion,” the study found.

 

However, the authors said: “Parents should be advised that supply of alcohol may increase children’s drinking.”

 

The executive officer of the McCusker centre for action on alcohol and youth, Julia Stafford, warned parents against drawing a conclusion that supplying their children with alcohol would protect against binge drinking.

 

Any level of drinking was harmful to teenagers, she said, because their brains were still developing.

 

“This paper confirms the National Health and Medical Research Council advice that for children and young people under 18, not drinking alcohol is the safest option,” Stafford said. “The study shows that giving children alcohol increases their risk of drinking later, whether the alcohol is from parents or others.”

 

She said the children in the study were still quite young, when there would be less binge drinking occurring when compared with older teenagers or adults.

 

“The paper is very clear that no conclusions can be drawn about possible protective effects of parental alcohol supply,” she said.

 

 “While there has been discussion about the European model of drinking, Australia is very different from Europe, and the drinking patterns in Europe are also changing.

 

“The best advice is delaying drinking in young people is the safest approach.”

 

The director of the centre for health and social research at the Australian Catholic University, Prof Sandra Jones, agreed.

 

“This study answers a question that many parents ask: does the European model of providing alcohol to children work?,” she said. “The answer is no, and it doesn’t work in Europe either.”

 

The director of policy and research with the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, Amy Ferguson, said there had been a positive and significant shift in young people’s drinking patterns in recent years.

 

Binge drinking among 14- to 17-year-olds had dropped by half, and the number of abstainers had more than doubled in the same age group.

 

“The declining consumption rates among Australia’s adolescents would suggest parents are becoming increasingly aware that serving alcohol to young people comes with increased risks and are heeding the advice of health professionals not to serve alcohol to their children,” Ferguson said.