Pre-teen sips of alcohol 'could lead to binge-drinking in adolescence

Pre-teens who get sips of alcohol at the dinner table from their parents are 85 per cent more likely to binge-drink in adolescence, a new study reveals. Parental supply of sips of alcoholic drinks was associated with increased risks of adverse alcohol outcomes in teenage years 'Parents should think twice before allowing their underage kids to try alcohol,' said the study's lead author, Alexandra Aiken at the National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre, Australia. Parents may not view supply of sips in the same way as supply of larger quantities of alcohol, instead seeing it as an acceptable, even desirable way to introduce alcohol But parental supply of even small amounts of alcohol may hasten alcohol initiation and reduce barriers to alcohol use, all of which in turn might encourage further alcohol consumption, the researchers argue. Parental supply of even small amounts of alcohol in early adolescence may hasten alcohol initiation Among those not receiving alcohol from other sources, parents giving sips of alcohol to their children had increased risk of binge drinking by 80 per cent and increased risk of alcohol-related harms in later adolescence and early adulthood by 70 per cent. 'These findings suggest that while parents supplying larger amounts of alcohol is associated with worse outcomes, even supplying relatively small quantities such as sips increases the risk of adverse outcomes for children,' the team say.