Parents who don't want teens boozing, need to curb own drinking: Study

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If you want to keep your kids off the bottle, you need to look at your own drinking habits, according to a study.

CNN reported the study — published Sept. 14 in the Journal of Adolescent Health — said teens whose parents either drank or binged regularly were four times more likely to imbibe themselves.

The study defines binge-drinking as at least four drinks for women and five drinks for men at one time.

“The study really provides more evidence that binge-drinking is not only harmful to the person drinking alcohol, but also to others around them by increasing the risk of their teens drinking the alcohol,” senior study author Dr. Marissa Esser, leader of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s alcohol program, told CNN.

Dr. Danielle Dick, director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center in Piscataway, N.J., who wasn’t part of the study, said parents should be concerned about adolescents drinking because it can harm their brain development.

“For me, that’s the most important piece to come out of this: another reminder for parents of the role that we can play in influencing our kids’ substance use,” said Dick.

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Dick said the age at which kids start drinking should be delayed as long as possible because research has shown the younger teens start drinking, the greater their chances of developing a drinking problem or an addiction.

She said more than 45% of kids who started drinking at age 13 or younger develop alcohol problems.

“Whereas among kids who delayed until age 21, less than 10% of them go on to develop an alcohol use disorder.”