'Millions' of Aussies drink before age 10
Pastor Dale Morgan
'Millions' of Aussies drink before age 10
*
AAP
September 07, 2009 08:41am
MILLIONS of Australians have been put at risk of developing alcohol
problems later in life by drinking before the age of 10, a prominent
church-based welfare organisation said.
Research commissioned by The Salvation Army showed more than two million
Australians were under 10 years old when they first tried alcohol.
The Roy Morgan research also showed that 12 million Australians were
unaware of new national guidelines which advised the safest option for
teenagers was to delay drinking for as long as possible.
The Salvos said the research was alarming, adding it was concerned the
message that children under 18 should not drink was not getting through.
"The latest federal guidelines emphasise that the safest option for
teenagers is to delay the onset of drinking for as long as possible,"
The Salvation Army's Major Brad Halse said.
"It is widely thought that supervised introduction of alcohol to young
people in the home minimises the risk of the young person developing
problem drinking patterns later in life.
"In fact, research clearly indicates the reverse - that the earlier a
person is introduced to alcohol, the more likely they are to develop
drinking problems later."
The Salvos released the research as part of a campaign to educate the
community about the national guidelines - developed by the National
Health and Medical Research Council - and the dangers of youth drinking.
The research also showed that 1.7 million Australians believed it was
safe to give a child under 12 years of age an occasional sip of alcohol,
while five million felt it was okay for someone 15 years or younger.
Seven million Australians had their first taste of alcohol in the home,
while 8.8 million first drank with their family.
The Roy Morgan research was based on a telephone survey last month with
a random sample of 687 people aged 14 years and over.