‘No alcohol for children’ advice unrealistic?

In 2009, the UK Labour Government published Guidance on the Consumption of Alcohol by Children and Young People. In this report, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) recommended that children under the age of 15 should avoid alcohol completely.

However, this advice has now been challenged as ‘unrealistic’ by a new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.*

The new report is designed to fill a gap in knowledge. While a significant body of research exists on teenagers’ awareness of alcohol and drinking practices, much less is known about how parents teach younger children (aged 5 to 12) about alcohol and the extent to which young people’s current and future drinking habits may have their roots in childhood experiences.

Using a national survey and in-depth case studies, the new report attempts to fill the gap in knowledge by investigating parents’ and carers’ drinking practices and their attitudes towards the role of alcohol within the family, as well as their children’s knowledge and understanding of alcohol.

The study looked at ‘norms’ within families – the personal home rules and practices that individual families establish as a result of specific family structures, parents’ own childhood memories of being brought up, and families’ communication styles. It also considers society’s wider norms around parenting and drinking cultures, as generated by the law, media and social networks, for example.

The key findings of the study are:

• Parents are the most important influence on young children’s attitudes to alcohol.

• Parents largely succeed in conveying the social pleasures and risks of drinking at home, and the need for moderation. Children also learn messages about moderation from witnessing parents/relatives drinking to excess.

However, children are not taught to recognise the health consequences of drinking. Unlike social risks, health risks do not resonate with parents’ experiences of drinking. This has implications for bodies that guide parents in how to talk to children about alcohol.

Parental emphasis on learning to drink safely at home misses the opportunity to teach children about other drinking practices and environments, and the impact of drunken behaviour on others.

The authors conclude that the Chief Medical Officer’s 2009 recommendation that children under 15 should avoid alcohol appears unrealistic, ‘since alcohol is an unremarkable part of many families’ lives’, and the CMO’s recommendation may, therefore, run counter to sensible parental approaches to alcohol.

However, whether this conclusion is found persuasive by parents or other researchers and health advocates remains to be seen. An obvious retort is that there is a considerable amount of evidence to show that the likelihood of becoming a sensible drinker is significantly enhanced in young people by delaying the onset of regular drinking. Moreover, although, until comparatively recently, cigarette smoking was an unremarkable part of many families’ lives, it still was not generally considered appropriate to allow or encourage children aged under 15 to smoke.

The authors also conclude that alcohol education in schools is one way to address the gaps in what children learn at home. However, the majority of children in this study had not learned about alcohol at school. The Department for Education might beneficially review alcohol education in primary schools to improve its effectiveness. To maximise impact, such education could involve parents and/or run in parallel with campaigns targeting parents.

* Valentine, G; Jayne, M; Gould, M; 2010; Alcohol consumption and family life. Joseph Rowntree Foundation