Millions of teenagers in the United States are consuming alcohol and in many cases the access is easy – it comes free from an adult, a new government study found. Of the country's estimated 10.8 million underage drinkers, more than 40 percent said they got alcohol free from an adult during the past month.
The four-year federal study was based on responses of 158,000 young Americans from 2002 to 2006. It showed that one in 16 teens got alcohol from their parents in the past 30 days alone, 1 in 12 said they got it from some other adult family member while one-fourth were given alcohol by an unrelated adult.
"There are a relatively large number of persons aged 12 to 20 who consume alcohol," said James Colliver, a statistician with the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). "A number of them are likely to get alcohol from a parent or another family member or other adult. “
With such easy availability, underage drinkers do not resort to the old techniques of using fake I.D.s or stealing from the liquor cabinet, anymore.
Kelly Breneisen of Antioch, the mother of three teens, said she was amazed that even more children didn't report getting booze from a family member.
"You never hear a story about a kid standing outside a liquor store, paying someone to buy them beer. They're too aware; they know they'll get into trouble," she said. "The stories are usually at home, in someone's basement."
Some parents believe trying to keep their underage children from drinking would be futile if they implement strict rules at home and kids go elsewhere for the booze. so, they’d rather hand over the drinks to children let the drinking be under supervision.
Stanton Peele, an addiction specialist, describes how alcohol education can prepare children to lead addiction-free lives in his book, ‘Addiction-Proof Your Child’. He allows his underage daughter to drink with him, preferring that drinking take place under his supervision rather than elsewhere.
"The bottom line is that if your children are going to learn to drink, they really ought to learn from you," he says.
Youngsters confronted with the issue, said they were not surprised at the study findings. Drinking is normal and the study only reinforces the obvious. Many adults are easy to fool, the teens say, and some parents think it's safer to drink at someone's home rather than be drunk in a car.
The report also says that underage drinking is responsible for more than 5,000 deaths of people under 21 each year in the United States.
Two Deerfield parents in the Chicago area were convicted last year for allowing an underage drinking party at their home, which led to an auto crash that killed two teens.
A month later, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a law that allowed for felony charges if parents knowingly let underage drinking occur and someone is hurt or killed as a result.
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