In some families, people have a relaxed attitude about alcohol. At special events, kids get to sip a little wine or beer. Teenagers might be permitted the occasional nip as long as they’re under adult supervision.
Breaking the law? Not necessarily.
In many European countries, there are no legal restrictions against children drinking (as opposed to purchasing) alcohol. That’s true for some U.S. states, too. In the United Kingdom, kids as young as five years can legally drink alcohol at home as long as they’re under parental supervision. The theory is that kids will learn to drink responsibly if they are exposed to alcohol in a controlled, family context.
Does it work?
That’s the question addressed by a recent paper in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Researcher Barbara McMorris and colleagues compared teen drinking habits in two places, Victoria, Australia and Washington state, USA.
In Victoria, the authors note, parents tend to take the relaxed approach to alcohol. In Washington state, parents are more likely to adopt a zero-tolerance policy. No alcohol permitted.
The researchers tracked more than 1900 young adolescents during the middle school years. Consistent with the expected cultural differences, the Australians from Victoria were more likely to have consumed alcohol in a supervised context by the eighth grade. In particular, 67% of Australian kids had consumed alcohol with an adult present. In the American sample, the number was 35%.
A year later, when the kids were in the 9th grade, the researchers uncovered a significant link between adult-supervised drinking and harmful consequences.
Whereas about 36% of Australian teens admitted to alcohol-related problems (like uncontrollable drinking, fighting, or experiencing black-outs) only 21% of American teens reported similar difficulties.
And in both countries, kids who had experienced adult-supervised drinking at an early age were more likely to develop alcohol-related problems later.
In a press release, McMorris notes that her team’s results are consistent with the findings of earlier study conducted in the Netherlands. In that study, the only parenting risk factor for teen drinking was the amount of alcohol available at home.
So is it all about access? No. There are other factors at work.
For instance, I’ve seen interesting research suggesting that kids’ alcohol use is predicted by their parent’s beliefs.
When parents assume their kids will show little self-control or will end up drinking regularly as teenagers, their kids are more likely to do so. Even when–objectively speaking–the kids don’t have many prior risk factors for drinking. In other words, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And individual differences must be very important. My guess is that there are certain people who are very vulnerable to the effects of alcohol, and for these folks, the safest approach is total abstinence.
image by Samantha Nicol