London, Jan 28 (Inditop.com) Parents who teach responsible drinking by letting their teens have alcohol at home, may be inducing them to drink outside as well and such teens had an elevated risk of developing alcohol-related problems, according to a Dutch study.
Drinking problems included trouble with school work, missed school days and getting into fights with other people, among other issues, said the study, which interviewed 428 Dutch families with two children aged between 13 and 15 years. Parents and teens completed questionnaires on drinking habits at the outset and again one and two years later.
The findings, the researchers said, put into question the advice of some experts who recommend that parents drink with their teenage children to teach them how to drink responsibly – with the aim of limiting their drinking outside of the home.
The advice is common in The Netherlands but it is based more on experts’ reasoning than on scientific evidence, according to Haske van der Vorst, of the Radboud University, who led the study.
“The idea is generally based on common sense,” van der Vorst said. “For example, the thinking is that if parents show good behaviour – here, modest drinking – then the child will copy it. Another assumption is that parents can control their child’s drinking by drinking with the child.”
But the current findings suggest that is not the case. Based on this and earlier studies, van der Vorst said: “I would advise parents to prohibit their child from drinking, in any setting or on any occasion.”
The findings, according to van der Vorst, suggest that teen drinking begets more drinking – and, in some cases, alcohol problems – regardless of where and with whom they drink, said a Radboud University release.
The new study was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
