Today I want to talk about teenagers and alcohol. I ´d like to give you some information about the article "Teenage drinking not a problem - yet" taken from the Read on.
Researchers find, that English children drink more than other Europeans - new alcoholic drinks may encourage more teenagers to start drinking.
This is the result of a study carried out in three countries: in England, France and Spain. Researchers questioned children aged from 11 to 16 at 35 schools in Humberside about their drinking habits.
They found out that only 14 per cent of the English pupils said, they did not drink, compared with 32 per cent of the French and 46 per cent of the Spanish.
In all three countries, boys drank more than girls. The English teenagers were also more likely to be heavy drinkers. Six per cent of the English pupils reported drinking 21 units of alcohol or more in the past week, compared with just three per cent of the Spanish pupils and five per cent of the French. A unit is equal to half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine.
Researchers say parents´attitudes may be one reason for the differences. Only 16 per cent of the English teenagers who took part in the study said that their parents did not like them to drink alcohol.
A large majority of the Spanish pupils, 69 per cent, said that their parents disapproved. The figure of French parents was 36 per cent.
The researchers believe there could be other reasons for the greater number of teenager drinkers in England. Young people there may be under more pressure to grow up quickly, and drinking is a way of showing that they are adult. In France and Spain there is less pressure to behave like an adult.
There was also a difference where the first drink was taken. English pupils usually had it from friends in the street or a park, whereas most French and Spanish pupils were introduced to alcohol in bars, restaurants or the family home.
Despite the figures, the researchers say that teenage drinking is not a problem in England. However, a new kind of alcoholic drink may cause teenagers to start drinking and to consume more alcohol than before.
The drinks industry now offers about 20 different drinks that taste like ordinary lemonade or cola but have an alcohol content of four to nine per cent. These alcoholic drinks are known as "alcopop" and are so successful that new products are coming on the market every month.
The drinks industry says that the drinks are meant for adults. The problem is they appeal to children. Prof. Roy Meadow, a respected children´s doctor, said, that they are a very good way of developing a taste for alcohol in young. Most alcoholic drinks are not sweet enough to appeal to the taste of children. These are.
Parents may have no idea what these drinks contain and could well confuse them with low alcoholic drinks. There are not at all low alcoholic products.
The drinks industry has already reacted to these concerns. The seven biggest producers of "alcopop" have agreed not to advertise, name or label their drinks in a way that could particularly attract young people under the legal drinking age of 18.
Alcohol is a legal drug and you can buy it wherever you want and it doesn´t matter how old you are. Mainly the reason of teenage drinking is, that many young people have problems, they have problems with their parents, in school or with friends. The number of teenagers drinking in Austria has grown compared with the number in former years.
The alcoholik illness grows slowly over years. A teenager who doesn´t consume much alcohol now, can be in danger in a few years.
My opinion about alcohol is, that many of the people don´t want to realise, that alcohol is a drug. It´s legal, but it´s still a drug and the number of alcohol adicted peopel is growing and growing.
