Teens and alcohol have long been a source of concern for many parents – and adults in general. Different cultures believe different things and even legal ages for alcohol consumption change according to where you are.
I live in Quebec where the legal age is 18, while our neighboring province Ontario’s legal age is 19. At the same time, an hour south of us, across the Canada/United States border, the age is 21. (One thing I can’t figure out is why you can allow an 18-year-old to own a gun, join the army, get married, vote, buy a house, etc, but he or she can’t have a drink?).
Anyway, since there are such differences in beliefs about teens and alcohol, there are on-going studies to see if there are ways to see what may be best overall.
Researchers in the United Kingdom surveyed 9833 teens in North Eastern England, aged 15 to 16 years, about their alcohol consumption. The researchers were looking for information consumption patterns (what they drank, where they drank it, how they got it) and the results of the drinking (violence, for example). The results of their study were published in the open access, on-line journal version of BMC Public Health.
Briefly, the results showed that when drunk:
- 28.8% experienced violence
- 12.5% regretted alcohol-related sexual encounters
- 45.3% reported forgetting things
- 35.8% drinking in public places
However, teens who said their parents supplied them with alcohol had fewer incidents such as those listed above.
If you read the study thoroughly, you’ll see the authors aren’t saying that parents should be offering their teens alcohol. What they are saying is that if teens are exposed to regulated amounts of alcohol once a week or so, the forbidden fruit is no longer that. While they may continue to drink outside the home, their risk of binge drinking and the risk of experiencing the harmful effects of binge drinking are lower than teens who are not allowed to have any alcohol at home.
If you’re a parent of teens, how do you handle alcohol? If your children are young, what do you think you will do? If you’re not a parent, what do you think parents should do?
I’m in the camp of moderate alcohol in the home – and my children are now 18, 20 and 22.
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Image: PhotoXpress.com
Although occasional at home alcohol use may seem radical here in the US, for European cultures it’s long been a part of every day life.
Traveling in Europe it’s rare to see drunk European teen. Drunk American — you bet. But I can’t help but wonder if at home exposure and attitude has something to do with it.