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How Children Perceive Alcohol Use Risks

A recent study by University of Maryland researchers looked at the difference between children’s self-perceptions of their risk of alcohol use versus their perceptions of risk of alcohol use for other children, and whether these discrepancies predicted children’s future alcohol use. They cite research indicating that 58% of U.S. children have had at least minimal experience with alcohol before the age of 12 years and that recent evidence shows those children’s perceptions about alcohol risk is a predictor of early-onset alcohol use.

This study examined 277 children ages 9 to 13 years (fifth and sixth graders) recruited from schools, libraries, and Boys and Girls Clubs from a large metropolitan area in the northeastern U.S. Follow-up consisted of two waves of assessment separated by one year. At onset children were asked how risky they thought it would be for them to use alcohol. They were also asked how risky alcohol use was for children their own age. Riskiness was defined as the chance of getting hurt or of getting in trouble with authority figures.

The study led to two main findings.  First, the group who used alcohol the least had perceived that the risk of alcohol use was high for both themselves and others the same age. Second, the group with the highest alcohol use had perceived a low risk of alcohol use for themselves and a high risk for their peers. The researchers suggest that these discrepancies between children’s perceptions versus actual risk of alcohol use can be helpful in predicting children’s alcohol use outcomes.

(De Los Reyes, A, Reynolds, E, Wang, F, MacPherson, L, Lejuez, C: Discrepancy between how children perceive their own alcohol risk and how they perceive alcohol risk for other children longitudinally predicts alcohol use. Addictive Behaviors 35: 1061-1066, 2010.)

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