A federal study has determined that around 709,000 kids, aged 12 to 14, are drinking beer, liquor, and other alcoholic beverages, according to a feature on Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Since kids this age obviously cannot buy the booze on their own, the study also learned how they get their hands on these beverages. While there are those who resort to sneaky tactics such as getting an older “friend” to buy a six-pack from the liquor store, or smuggling the stuff from the family stash, there are some kids who are actually getting alcohol directly from a parent, guardian, or adult relative.
According to a report from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), more than 200,000 kids were given alcohol by an adult family member – and this number is just in the past month alone.
Peter Delany, director of the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality at SAMHSA, said: “About 5.9 percent of 12- to 14-year-olds have used alcohol in the past month… That’s a pretty large number… And almost all of these kids got that alcohol for free.”
Delany revealed further that 45 percent of kids who drank alcoholic drinks either got them from a parent or a family member, or took it without permission from their own homes.
The reason behind why parents give kids liquor is not clear, according to Delany. He said: “Anecdotally, parents say, ‘Well, at least they are drinking at home and not on the street, or at least they are not smoking marijuana’ — all kind of silly things.”
Tags: teen alcohol abuse, teen alcohol drinking, teen alcoholism
