What influences 11 year olds to drink?

Children are less likely to drink if they have heightened perceptions of the harms of drinking and negative expectations towards alcohol - such as that it leads to difficulties with peers or impacts on school work - according to a new UCL-led study. Data from 10,498 children aged 11 was analysed, with the researchers finding that around one in seven had drunk more than a few sips of alcohol at least once. The study, published today in BMC Public Health , is the first to examine drinking behaviours in very early adolescence in relation to a wide range of factors that are associated with alcohol consumption in children - such as family, friends, and the young person's views about alcohol. The researchers found that nearly 14% of 11 year olds had drunk more than a few sips of alcohol at least once. While they emphasise that it is not possible to make statements regarding cause and effect with this sort of study, the numbers do show a strong association between 11 year olds drinking and their friends' and mothers' behaviour. Children whose mothers drank heavily were 80% more likely to drink than those whose mothers didn't. Children whose friends drank were five times more likely to drink than those whose friends did not drink.