| COMMUNITY |
| Message Boards Chat Feedback |
| SITE SOURCES |
| Contents Help! Search CNN Networks |
| SPECIALS |
| Quick News Almanac Video Vault News Quiz |
|
Study: Young drinkers more at risk for addiction
January 14, 1998
Web posted at: 1:07 p.m. EST (1807 GMT)From Senior Medical Correspondent Dan Rutz
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The younger a person starts drinking, the more likely the individual will abuse alcohol or become an alcoholic, researchers as the National Institutes of Health said Wednesday.
A new study by the National Institution on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a component of the NIH, found people who began drinking before they turned 15 were four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who started drinking at the legal age of 21.
The study was based on information from the largest survey ever conducted on alcohol use.
CNN's Dan Rutz reports that underage drinking dramatically increases the risk of becoming an alcoholic.
2 min. VXtreme video
Earlier research already has indicated that underage drinkers get into more accidents, run into more trouble at home and school and have a higher risk of becoming sexually active.
The numbers were enough to give Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala cause for concern.
"This study adds new evidence about the need to regard underage drinking as the serious problem it is," Shalala said. "Parents, schools and communities need to say to our young people with one voice that underage drinking can jeopardize health and lifetime prospects."
Of the people surveyed for the study, more than 40 percent who began drinking before they turned 15 eventually became addicted to alcohol. That compares with the 24.5 percent who began drinking at 17 and the roughly 10 percent who started at the ages of 21 and 22.
Despite all the numbers, the study can't explain exactly why age matters when people first start drinking.
It makes sense, however, to Ray Estefania, a recovering alcoholic who started drinking when he was 13. He's been sober five years and now counsels teen-agers and adults about overcoming alcoholism.
CNN's Leon Harris interviews the Director of the NIAA, Dr. Enoch Gordis.
289K/25 sec. AIFF or WAV sound "They think it's something that's not a big deal and it's that same mentality that we always think that it won't happen to them, the problems won't happen to them," Estefania said.
Researchers said parents who allow their kids to drink at home, ostensibly to help keep them out of trouble, are kidding themselves.
"That is the major finding of this study, (that) parents aren't going to protect their children in the home if they drink at a very young age," said chief researcher Bridget Grant.
Dr. Enoch Gordis, the director of the institute, said the study is only "one piece of a complex puzzle."
"It remains to be seen whether it is the delay in alcohol use or, possibly, other associated factors that explain the inverse relationship between age at drinking onset and lifetime risk for alcohol abuse and alcoholism," Gordis said.
The study shows there's plenty of incentives for teen-age abstinence.
For every year drinking alcohol is delayed, the risk of getting hooked on it goes down by 14 percent. The risk of lifetime alcohol abuse fell by 8 percent with each additional year spent not drinking.
Three out of four adult drinkers say they got started before the legal drinking age. The new research shows even if they got away with it at the time, there may be a high price later on.
|
Sound off on our message boards & chat |
|
