Parents ‘must rethink teen drinking’

Parents should think twice about allowing their teenagers have a drink on special occasions if they do not want them to develop bad alcohol habits, say the 2015 BT Young Scientist winners.

Ian O’Sullivan and Eimear Murphy also believe any future plans to tackle teenage drinking should examine attitudes of fathers towards alcohol, and how much they drink.

In the only known study of its kind among second-level students in Ireland, the transition-year duo from Coláiste Treasa in Kanturk, Co Cork, made some valuable discoveries about the relationship between the drinking habits of parents and the likelihood of adolescents to drink. But particularly strong links emerged between alcohol use of fathers and their children.

Their project was the first in almost three decades to win the top prize at the competition from the social and behavioural sciences category, a sign of the importance judges attached to the work.

Using statistical analysis standards required of third-level students, they found that teens who reported hazardous use of alcohol were:

- Over three times more likely to have a father who reported hazardous alcohol consumption.

- Over three times more likely to be allowed by both parents to drink on special occasions, although more so by fathers.

- Almost four times more likely to have fathers who believe it is OK for teens to get drunk sometimes.

Young people whose fathers had reduced well-being were also more likely to drink hazardously, they found. While more than a third of surveyed teens reported being hazardous drinkers, it was much more prevalent among boys (40%) than girls (30%).

They sent surveys to eight schools in the Kanturk and Mallow areas, getting responses from 360 students and also from their parents.

“We found that 47% of parents were hazardous drinkers and that’s in line with other Irish studies, the average is about 52 or 53%. So we were delighted that parents were being honest in their survey,” said Eimear.

“The mother still has an effect but they actually have more of a protective factor. We found that if the mother is against their teenager drinking, then that teenager is only half as likely to become a hazardous drinker.”

The outcomes also raise questions about parents letting teenagers have a drink on special occasions, which Ian says is not a good idea.

“People say they do it in France and Germany, but we have a different culture. We need evidence-based policy, we have the evidence and policy needs to change,” he said.

The idea was prompted by seeing young people drinking when they celebrate Junior Certificate results.

“Everyone says peer pressure is a factor, which it is, but we found that there were people in the same groups of friends and some of them would be drinking and other wouldn’t,” said Eimear.

“So we felt that maybe there’s another factor that was influencing these teenagers’ drinking, so we thought it was the parents.”

The selection of their work for the Health Research Board special award at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition suggests their findings could influence policymakers.

They also plan to submit their research for publication in an academic journal, as well as bringing it to the EU Young Scientist event in Milan next September.