Illegal Alcohol Use Prevention: Underage Drinking Can Be Prevented By Warm, Supportive Parenting And Prevention Programs

Drinking alcohol is probably a rite of passage for most teenagers. Peer pressure and the desire to try new things likely contribute to the matter, but parents also play a huge role when it comes to preventing their teens from indulging in underage drinking.

These Two Factors Have The Most Promising Results

Two new studies have shed some light on how parents can stop their children from underage drinking, NPR reported. One research found that adolescent children are less likely to consume alcohol if their parents brought them up in a warm and supportive environment. The second study found that underage drinking can be prevented through home-based programs for both parents and children.

According to the study published in the July issue of Prevention Science, parental behaviors and strategies affect teenagers' alcohol use. Low monitoring from parents, low parental warmth, parents also drinking alcohol, and parent expectancies all contribute to the prevalence of underage drinking. Binge drinking during young adulthood and adolescence can predict a young person's likelihood of arrest eight to 14 years later.

The other study, on the other hand, employed the use of a home-based and self-administering parenting program to lower the chances of underage drinking. The program is used by parents on their elementary school-age children, and it made the youngsters less likely to take up underage drinking four years later.

Christine Jackson, a social ecologist at RTI International in Durham, North Carolina, said that a child's first taste of alcohol usually comes from a drink offered by his/her own parent. Some parents believe that allowing children to sip alcohol will satisfy their curiosity and will steer them away from future drinking. Experts, however, found that children who were granted alcohol sips by their parents are more likely to take up drinking as they grow up.

Widespread Underage Drinking

The latest biannual Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one in six teenagers drank alcohol before the age of 13. A 2013 story from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, or NSDUH, found that around 5.4 million people from aged 12 to 20 indulge in binge drinking. Around 1.4 million people from the same age group participate in heavy drinking, the National Institutes of Health reported.

Underage drinking poses serious implications to young people's health. That includes brain development issues, serious injuries due to alcohol-related accidents, poor judgment, higher risk for physical and sexual assault, and death from alcohol poisoning.

Underage drinkers have high risks of school problems, suicide, and homicide as well. They are also more likely to abuse other substances or drugs, the CDC noted.