10-11 year-olds admit to alcohol use – are some of these youngster addicts of the future?
According to a survey by the Schools Health Education Unit more than one in ten children in their final year of primary school admit to having drunk alcohol during the previous week.
One in every 100 young boys said that they had drunk alcohol on three of the past seven days according to the poll.
Some 13 per cent of boys aged 10 and 11, and 10 per cent of girls the same age claimed to have had at least one alcoholic drink within the past seven days.
Alcohol consumption increased as children grew older, with more than a quarter of year ten pupils, who were aged 14 and 15, admitting to having drunk alcohol at least once in the previous week.
17 per cent of girls in year ten said they had been drunk on at least one occasion, with four per cent claiming they had been intoxicated on more than one occasion during that period.
More than 68,000 children aged 10 to 15 took part in the survey which was carried out in 2012 and covered a wide variety of topics including alcohol and drug consumption.
Ten per cent of pupils admitted to taking drugs whilst drinking.
Simon Stephens, Director of Casework at Addictions UK, said: “This survey shows the need for more alcohol awareness in primary schools to prevent these problems from becoming entrenched – some of the school children could well go on to discover unmanageability from drinking in adult life”.
For more information see this article in the Daily Telegraph
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