One in seven 11 year olds drink alcohol
It's claimed pocket money prices and aggressive marketing MUST end in the alcohol industry to protect our children.
There are calls for a higher tax on cheap booze like cider in an attempt to stop kids drinking it.
It's as new research shows one in seven 11 year olds have drank alcohol, meanwhile one child is admitting to A&E every day in the North East because of it.
Colin Shevill's, director of Balance North East wants it to be addressed in the government’s 2016 budget. He said:
“We need to restrict the tentacles of the alcohol industry and we need to set a good example for our children if we want to keep them safe. It’s within the government’s hands to do that and they can make a start with the budget in a couple of weeks’ time by increasing the duty on cider.”
“Almost one child is admitted to hospital every day in the North East because of alcohol. It’s the result of a culture which is far too pro alcohol, a culture driven by an alcohol industry which is marketing in a way which is reaching children on a daily if not hourly basis.”
“The chancellor could address that now by increasing alcohol duty on white ciders and white spirits both of which tend to be consumed by children. That’s a way to protect our children.”
The new research has been published in the open access journal BMC Public Health.
It’s the first study to examine drinking behaviours in very early adolescence in relation to a wide range of factors that are associated with alcohol consumption in children, such as family, friends and the young person's views about alcohol.
The researchers found that nearly 14% of 11 year olds had drunk more than a few sips of alcohol at least once. Children whose mothers drank heavily were 80% more likely to drink than children whose mothers did not drink and boys were more likely to report drinking than girls. Children whose friends drank were five times more likely to drink than those whose friends did not drink.
Children were less likely to drink if they had heightened perceptions of the harms of drinking and negative expectations towards alcohol.
Lead author Yvonne Kelly, from University College London, said:
"Drinking in adolescence is considered a 'risky' behaviour, it often co-occurs with other 'risky' behaviours and it is linked to educational failure and to premature mortality, for example via accidental deaths. Improving our understanding of the factors that influence drinking is important as it has implications for the development of policies and interventions aimed at reducing 'risky' behaviours."