Should you let your kids drink wine, like the French? Here’s the truth about underage drinking

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk

Luke Mintz 

21 AUGUST 2019 

Why can’t teenagers drink a little wine with dinner, like the Europeans do? It’s a question that will be asked this month by many British parents returning from summer holidays on the Continent, where they witnessed their teenage son or daughter sipping on Sauvignon Blanc in the corner of an Italian piazza – the picture of civilisation, without a vomiting binge-drinker in sight.

The so-called “European ideal” tells parents that a small amount of alcohol is actually good for their children, teaching them how to handle booze responsibly. And it appears to have caught on among the middle-classes, according to a new NHS study which shows that children from affluent backgrounds drink significantly more alcohol than their poorer classmates.

Some 37 per cent of 11- to 15-year-olds from the wealthiest third of families said they had drunk alcohol recently, versus 27pc of poorer children, according to the Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use study, which surveyed 13,500 pupils. Of all the children who had tried alcohol, 71pc were given it by their parents, 49pc by friends, whilst 48pc took it from home without permission.

Experts point to a number of factors to explain the difference, with many highlighting the desire from some middle-class families to emulate the laissez-faire approach of the French, Spanish, and Italians and “adopt a more Continental approach to alcohol,” in the words of Dr Guatam Mehta, Associate Professor in Hepatology at University College London.

A small glass of wine with dinner teaches children to drink responsibly, the popular theory goes, and prepares their minds and stomachs for adulthood, when alcohol will be readily available. But is it really such a good idea?

Dr Mehta thinks there is no safe amount of alcohol for children under the age of 16, and says it is “quite worrying” that some parents are emulating the Continental approach: “There is this perception that the relationship with alcohol is healthier on the Continent, [which] is obviously very alluring when you go on holiday and everyone seems like they handle alcohol better. But it isn’t really borne out by the data. Individuals from countries like France, Belgium, and Spain drink more per capita than people in the UK do, and as a consequence there’s a greater burden of liver disease, for example, which is one of many health consequences.”

Studies have shown that alcohol can take a particularly damaging toll on teenagers and their developing brains, he says, with MRI scans showing marked differences in the brain’s hippocampus region (responsible for memory) between adolescents who regularly drink alcohol and those who do not.

What’s more, he thinks a Continental model of teenage drinking may only work in a southern European culture, where rates of binge-drinking are lower than in Britain. Rather than preparing their offspring for a life of responsible sipping, he says, it’s more likely that laissez faire parents are “normalising alcohol for individuals entering adulthood, where there is a heightened culture anyway”.

Dr Bob Patton, lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of Surrey, also gives short shrift to the “urban myth” that teenagers benefit from a small glass of wine with food. “You wouldn’t do it with cigarettes, so why would you do it with alcohol?” he asks. “Up to the age of 15, there shouldn’t be any alcohol going on. The would be my standard advice to any parent. It affects the development of many different parts of the physiology of a young person, and can impede some aspects of brain development, which would have a knock-on effect in terms of their ability to do various cognitive tasks.”

“And of course. people can choke on vomit if they’re ill, they’re more likely to be involved in accidents, causing trouble, getting into fights and such like. Parents might choose to give alcohol under supervision in the home environment, but it doesn’t escape the underlying psychological, physiological harms that could be caused.”

But he thinks that it’s not just the “European ideal” that explains why affluent children are drinking more than their poorer classmates, pointing out that middle-class children may have easier access to alcohol – often living in close proximity to a well-stocked wine cabinet – and can more easily afford to buy drinks when out with friends.

He also suggests that affluent children might feel more comfortable breaking the law to buy booze: “If you do have a legal problem, which background is more likely to be able to address that?”.

Dr Patton does welcome, however, that rates of teenage drinking are down overall, having fallen continuously since the 1990s, with 44pc of the 11- to 15-year-olds surveyed in the NHS study having tried alcohol at least once.

“Alcohol is part of British culture, we’re steeped in it, this is how it is in the UK. And I think avoiding excessive consumption for as long as possible is by far the best plan. And of course, parents themselves being responsible in their own drinking in front of children.”

Health experts speak with a unified voice on the perils of underage drinking, it seems, but some parents will argue that moderate teenage experimentation brings certain benefits that cannot be measured on a medical chart, helping to build character, for example. 

That is one decision that each parent must make by themselves.