Children get drunk for first time at 12, finds study
A study of almost 2,000 15-to-17-year-olds in the midlands and north-east reveals that children are getting drunk for the first time at an average age of 13 or 14.
But around one-in-10 boys and girls in both regions reported being drunk for the first time at 12, some even earlier.
The findings come in the same week that an Oireachtas committee was criticised for refusing to recommend a ban of drinks sponsorship of major sporting events, despite concluding there was a link to abuse of alcohol by young people.
The Take PART Study was carried out among 1,111 teenagers in the north-east and 845 in the midlands by Dublin City University’s school of health and human performance for the Health Service Executive.
It examined levels of physical activity among young people and how it related to factors such as alcohol consumption, smoking, access to activity facilities and other issues.
Almost four-in-five of those surveyed said they have drank alcohol, and more than 80% of those said they had taken a drink in the past month.
In the midlands, 21% of the teenagers said they had been drinking on at least six of the previous 30 days. This was the response from one-quarter of boys and nearly one-fifth of the girls questioned.
Teens in the north-east were found to drink less frequently, but one in six still had been drinking six or more times in the past month, a response again more common among boys.
Around 170 of the survey group had drank on 10 or more days in the past month, including 30 who drank on average at least two out of every three days.
In both regions, males reported having an average of six or seven drinks on each occasion, but these amounts were almost evenly matched by girls who drank.
DCU lecturer Dr Catherine Woods, an author of the reports published yesterday, said the next step is to establish if there is a link between drinking and physical activity among young people.
“We hope now to look at whether physically active children are more or less likely to drink regularly or at all,” she said.
The reports show a strong link between alcohol and smoking, with students who abstain from drinking more likely never to have tried smoking. Conversely, those who drink often are more likely to be frequent smokers.
One-in-five midlands teenagers smoke, a higher proportion than in the north-east, suggesting fewer smokers in the same age category than nationally in a 2002 survey.
Although smoking levels were similar among boys and girls in the north-east, it was significantly more common among girls than boys in the midlands, where female smokers were less likely to have serious plans to quit.
