Human Services News

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

New research suggests that if parents want to keep alcohol away from their middle school children, the best place to start is at home.

The study, reported in the June issue of Preventive Medicine, shows that of 11-14 year olds who choose to drink, only a small fraction (2.4% in the 6th grade, rising to 5.6% at the end of the 8th grade) obtain alcohol from commercial venues.

The study is unique as no other study has followed young, racially diverse, poor urban youth over a two and a half year period, observing patterns of social and commercial alcohol access in this manner.

It is important to educate parents about the consequences of alcohol use at a young age and try to prevent them from being their child's primary source of alcohol."

Mary O Hearst is at the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

The article, "Who needs liquor stores when parents will do" The importance of social sources of alcohol among young urban teens" appears in Preventive Medicine, Volume 44, number 6, June 2007, published by Elsevier.

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