Allowing children to sip and taste alcohol leads to increased drinking during late adolescence and young adulthood

Despite evidence that allowing children to try alcohol with parental supervision can increase risk for later drinking, many parents continue to do so in the belief that their children are more likely to develop responsible drinking habits. Exploration of this misperception will be shared at the 47^th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“We find a discrepancy between research findings and what parents commonly believe,” said Craig R. Colder, Distinguished Professor at State University of New York at Buffalo. “Parents frequently provide alcohol to children, often in the form of sips and tastes, with the intention of introducing alcohol safely. Many parents believe that if they don’t let their child try alcohol, then this will increase their curiosity and motivation to drink, known as the allure of the forbidden fruit. Another common belief is that children who sip small amounts of alcohol with parents will be less likely to experiment with risky drinking in the future.”

Colder explained that this discrepancy is likely due to the appearance of sipping/tasting alcohol as a low-level and safe introduction to it, and the misconception of early sipping/tasting as a preventative measure.

Colder will discuss his findings at the RSA meeting on Monday, 24 June 2024.

“We followed adolescents for nine years,” explained Colder. “The data presented at RSA include six years of these data because the question focused on how sipping and tasting with parental permission shapes early adolescents’ beliefs about alcohol and the onset of drinking without parental permission. In other work, we used the full nine years of data to examine how early sipping/tasting with parental permission predicts alcohol outcomes in young adulthood. These findings collectively suggest that sipping/tasting prior to age 13 was associated with increased frequency and quantity of alcohol use and negative alcohol consequences in young adulthood.”

Parents are among the earliest, most immediate, and potent sources of child socialization, said Colder, including socialization about alcohol use. “Allowing children to sip/taste alcohol is one way that parents convey beliefs, attitudes, and rules about alcohol use and it is quite common,” he said. “Estimates are that 30 to 50 percent of children are allowed to sip/taste prior to age of 13. This practice promotes positive beliefs about alcohol, which in turn, pave the way for drinking without parental permission further down the road.”

Most adolescents will face a choice to drink alcohol outside of parental supervision and, at some point, will try alcohol, added Colder. “Delaying the age of onset of this initial experimentation has tremendous benefits. Conversely, allowing children to sip and taste alcohol during childhood and early adolescence is harmful. What does work? Open discussions about alcohol where adolescents can communicate their concerns and worries, and parents can provide guidance around risks of drinking, help adolescents weigh the costs and benefits of drinking to help guide their decisions about alcohol, and keep track of what adolescents are doing, where they go, and with whom they spend their time.”