Nearly half of UK 14-year-olds have tried alcohol, figures show

Findings from on risky behaviours will help to design interventions, say researchers

Source: The Guardian

Nicola Davis

Wed 24 Jan 2018

Almost half of children in the UK have tried alcohol by the age of 14, while nearly 20% have had a run-in with the police, new figures have revealed.

The research also found that among 14-year-olds, 17% of boys and 8% of girls had gambled in the previous four weeks, 17% had tried a cigarette at some point, and more than one in 10 admitted to binge drinking on at least one occasion – defined as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting.

Experts say the findings will help in the design of interventions to prevent youths adopting risky behaviours, adding that the study highlights the need to tackle the issues of drink, drugs and smoking with primary school children.

“If things become a behavioural pattern and established at [a] young age, it might be difficult to shift later on,” said Dr Aase Villadsen, a co-author of the research from University College London.

The results, which have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, come from the Millennium Cohort Study – research that has been following about 19,500 people from birth, with interviews and assessments carried out every few years.

The latest findings, from surveys conducted in 2015 and early 2016, focus on various behaviours at age 14, with more than 11,000 teens quizzed.

While 14% of girls and 20% of boys had tried alcohol at age of 11, the latest findings show that overall almost half of teenagers had tried alcohol by age 14.

When it came to smoking, the team found that around 3% of 14-year olds said they regularly lit up, while 6% had taken recreational drugs. The researchers add that regular smoking appears to be linked the age at which individuals take their first puff, noting that 25% of those who smoked by age 11 were regular smokers by 14, compared to 15% of those who tried it for the first time between 12 and 14.

Once factors including parental education and occupation were taken into account, boys were slightly more likely to have dabbled with smoking, alcohol or drugs, or to have participated in binge-drinking.

The figures come just a few months after data released in November by the NHS showed that 24% of 11-15-year-olds had tried recreational drugs at least once, while 19% had tried smoking.

The latest study also found that by that age of 14, just over 41% of boys had shoved, hit, punched or slapped someone – almost twice the rate of girls.

In addition, 12% of boys and 9% of girls said they had engaged in sexual contact by the age of 14, with such experiences – as well as drinking, smoking and drug-taking – more common among teens who had been through puberty, were gay or bisexual, had single parents, or parents who drank or took drugs.

But Villadsen said factors behind the trends were complex, noting that children of the most educated parents were more likely to have carried out physical assault.

“There weren’t really strong socio-economic factors driving this – it seems to be that kids from across the spectrum are engaging in [risky behaviours],” she said. “The stage where they are in adolescence, or puberty, that is a massive driver -it is related to all of these things.”

While rates of various behaviours differed across England, Wales and Scotland, the researchers say this appears to be largely down to different demographics, with white teens more likely than those from ethnic minorities to engage in risky behaviours.

However, even when such factors were taken into account, some places stood out. “There is something about the youth in Northern Ireland that makes them slightly more well-behaved,” said Villadsen. “We are not really sure what is going on there.”

But the study has limitations, including that it is based on self-reporting by the teenagers.

Dr Michelle Taylor of Bristol University, who was not involved in the study, said “This highly important research from a modern cohort shows that despite efforts to reduce adolescent substance use and risky behaviours over the past decade, teenagers are still choosing to partake in these behaviours at high rates.”