Children's alcohol initiation: An analytic overview

Abstract

Many parents support the ‘supervised introduction’ of alcohol to children. While initiation to regular alcohol consumption in early adolescence has been linked with alcohol-related problems in adult life, the findings from these studies cannot be extrapolated to early childhood. The definition of initiation to alcohol in early childhood is often not reliable and there is a dearth of research regarding the impact of the broader social and cultural context where initiation may occur. Whilst parents need to be supported to make decisions that are informed by ‘evidence’, policymakers need to be mindful of the role of ideology in policy development and the potential differences in risk factors for initiation to alcohol and the misuse of alcohol.