Alcoholism Health Article

Why do children drink?

Various theories have been promulgated as to why children and adolescents initiate alcohol use prior to legal standards established by society. Some suggest that such early onset alcohol use and other problem behaviors (e.g., sexual precocity) represent attempts by adolescents to "try out" or adopt adult social roles. That is, adolescence is sometimes viewed as a time period in the lifespan in which adolescents no longer perceive themselves as children, but rather as "in transition" to adulthood. As a consequence of this perception, adolescents presumably mimic behaviors that adults engage in (e.g., alcohol use, sexual activity) and seek to establish competencies in those domains (e.g., physical attractiveness, romantic involvement) deemed essential to "successful" adult functioning. Engaging in these behaviors thus serves as a training ground for adult behaviors, while simultaneously distancing one's self from the more dependent, parent-offspring relations of childhood. As such, the engagement in alcohol use and other deviant activities during adolescence is viewed as a reflection of adolescents in preparation for adult social roles.

Others have viewed such early onset alcohol use as a symptom of a broader range of problem behaviors reflective of aberrant, or deviance prone, adolescents. These adolescents are proposed to have difficulties not only with early onset alcohol use, but also with poorer school performance, higher use of other illicit substances, higher delinquent activity, more deviant peers, and more troubled family relations. Furthermore, the parents of such adolescents use alcohol and other substances more frequently and are not as disapproving of alcohol and substance use by their offspring as are the parents of adolescents who abstain from or only experiment with alcohol use.

Still others have proposed that alcohol initiation during adolescence is a statistically normative activity (i.e., most teens will try alcohol) characteristic of experimentation in a number of domains during adolescence. According to this perspective, adolescents are responding to a variety of biological (e.g., onset of puberty onset) and psychosocial (e.g., transitions to high school contexts) changes in which experimentation is a developmentally common phenomena. In the United States, mixed messages are also conveyed to children and adolescents about alcohol use via various media sources. For example, drinking alcohol is often glamorized by rock stars and is associated with major sporting events (e.g., the Super Bowl).

Many television advertisements convey the message that drinking alcohol is a component of being popular among friends and is central to attracting that "special someone" in your life. It has been estimated that children in the United States will see alcohol consumed an average of 75,000 times (via television, movies, personal observation) prior to reaching the legal drinking age. In addition, many parents allow their underage children to drink alcoholic beverages. Therefore, even though alcohol use among children and adolescents is illegal by societal standards, in practice such messages are poorly conveyed and enforced, and experimentation with alcohol use among adolescents is not surprising.

Warning signs of children's drinking

A frequently posed question by parents and legal guardians of children pertains to "How can I tell if my child is using alcohol or other drugs?" That is, are there any early warning signs of child and adolescent substance use and abuse that should serve as red flags of possible problems? The short answer to this query is "Yes." However, prior to reading these warning signs, it is important that caution be exercised before jumping to conclusions about child/adolescent alcohol use because many of the warning signs may be associated with conditions other than alcohol use.

Many of the warning signs of alcohol use may be symptomatic of other behaviors or problems. For example, disturbed sleeping and eating patterns may be influenced by disruptive family functioning (e.g., marital conflict), the cessation of a romantic involvement, or anxiety about an upcoming examination or poor performance on a recent examination. Likewise, specific physical signs, such as frequent and long-lasting fatigue may reflect a medical disease or psychiatric disorder (e.g., depressive disorder) that is unrelated to alcohol use.

It is important to consider the convergence, or consistency, of several warning signs and to rule out alternative explanations when possible. In addition, it is important to try to distinguish between warning signs indicative of alcohol use or abuse from normative behaviors expressed by most adolescents. For instance, affiliating more with peers and sharing interests in musical tastes and dress is common among adolescents; however, the choice of friends, musical interests, and dress, in combination with some of the other warning signs enumerated above (e.g., increased hostility, drop in grades, disciplinary problems), may provide guidelines as to the likelihood that the child/adolescent is engaging in alcohol and substance use.