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 Researchers asked 75 fathers and 83 mothers how common it would be
for adults to drink in a range of situations like during a party, at
work, while watching television or while driving. Then, they asked
359 unrelated children, ages 4 to 8, in which situations they
thought it was common or appropriate for adults to drink.
As kids got older, they became increasingly aware of social norms
surrounding alcohol consumption, researchers report in the journal
Alcohol and Alcoholism. Familiarity with alcohol might make kids
more likely to start drinking earlier in life or lead to more
frequent drinking, the study team notes.
"Kids model parental behavior," said Richard Mattick of the National
Drug & Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales
in Sydney, Australia.
"Parents who drink in front of youngsters make drinking a norm,"
Mattick, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email.
Fathers drank more than mothers, the study found. Men consumed about
8.6 standardized alcohol units a week, compared with 4.4 for women.
One unit contains 10 grams of ethanol, or pure alcohol, and might be
equivalent to one to three drinks depending on the alcohol content
in each beverage.
Parents most often said drinking was common at events like a party,
Christmas dinner, restaurant dinner or barbeque.
Fewer parents found drinking common at everyday dinners, or while at
a picnic or watching television. Drinking was least common while
driving, reading, working or eating lunch, according to the parents.
Kids, meanwhile, found drinking more common while watching
television or partying.
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Children found drinking uncommon while reading, eating lunch or
working at an office.
The kids also said adults drank more in common situations for
alcohol consumption, which the study authors conclude means the
children are learning appropriate drinking behavior from observing
adults.
Very few parents and children invited to participate did so, leaving
a very small sample of participants whose views' may not reflect
what all Dutch families would say about alcohol consumption, the
study team notes.
Lead author Carmen Voogt of the Netherlands Institute of Mental
Health and Addiction, in Utrecht, didn't respond to emails seeking
comment.
The findings suggest that children become aware of social norms
surrounding alcohol consumption from an early age, Voogt and
colleagues write.
Most Dutch youth start drinking in adolescence, and many prevention
efforts focus on this age group, the authors note. But this may be
too late, the researchers conclude.
Early exposure to adults who drink and childhood knowledge of
drinking norms "can create the impression that alcohol is
omnipresent and socially endorsed," which some previous research has
linked to teen drinking, the authors write.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/37wJ1MY Alcohol and Alcoholism, online
December 11, 2019.
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