Drinking Prevention Needed in Grade School: Study of Use and Abuse

2008 March 20 by: Scott

Is your 6th grader involved with alcohol?

It’s a commonly known fact that teenage drinking across the country has many parents, educators and prevention specialist concerned. What is not commonly known is the growing number of elementary children beginning to use alcohol. Recently, Reuters published an article by author, Amy Norton, who shares statistics that indicate as many as 700 out of 4000 sixth graders in the Chicago area schools have consumed alcohol in the past year. With a growing trend of chemical abuse and misuse in this country, parents need to become mindful of these statistics and hold discussions with their children and the individuals that come in contact with their children on a regular basis. This article is another wake-up call for for parents to team with schools to keep their children safe and aware of prevention techniques to decrease alcohol use with minors.

A significant number of children are already drinking by middle school, suggesting that prevention needs to start in the elementary grades, researchers conclude in a new report.

In their study of more than 4,000 sixth-graders at Chicago schools, 17 percent of the children had used alcohol in the past year. Those students who’d started drinking were also more likely than their peers to have a range of problems, such as getting into fights, shoplifting or getting into trouble at school.

The findings, reported in the journal Health Education and Behavior, suggest that alcohol prevention needs to start in grade school, researchers say.

And such prevention efforts should include parents, according to lead researcher Dr. Keryn Pasch, of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis.

One way to do that, she told Reuters Health, would be for school- based programs to include take-home assignments or other activities that involve parents.

The study included an ethnically diverse sample of sixth-graders at 61 Chicago schools; 713, or just over 17 percent, said they had drunk alcohol in the past year.

These children, Pasch and her colleagues found, were more likely than their peers to have a range of risk factors for early drinking — such as delinquent or violent behavior, a lack of adult supervision out of school, and having friends who drank alcohol.

“I think it is important for parents to be aware that kids may start drinking at an early age, and that it is important to start discussions about alcohol use early,” Pasch said.

One way to broach to topic, she suggested, is to look for “teachable moments,” such as when drinking is portrayed on television.

It’s also important, Pasch said, for parents to not only tell their children not to drink, but to also teach them how to refuse alcohol when it’s offered to them.

SOURCE: Health Education and Behavior, online February 26, 2008. Author, Amy Norton