Mental health professional have long been concerned about impact of alcohol advertising on teens' drinking behavior. An article published in Medical News Today, March 3, 2009, examines this issue. The article reports on a study published in the March 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.The researchers, "....conducted a telephone survey of a representative sample of 6,522 U.S. adolescents age 10 to 14 years in 2003. The teens reported information about their drinking behaviors and drinking susceptibility, measured by items assessing responses to peer offers, intentions to drink and positive expectancies about drinking. At three follow-up surveys conducted every eight months, participants answered questions about changes in drinking habits and ownership of alcohol-branded merchandise." The results of the study were surprising. "The percentage of teens owning alcohol-branded merchandise ranged from 11 percent at the eight-month survey to 20 percent at the 24-month survey. The most commonly owned products were clothing (64 percent) and headwear (24 percent), with the remaining items a wide array that included jewelry, key chains, shot glasses, posters and pens. Most (75 percent) of the brands were beer, including 45 percent that featured the Budweiser label. Among teens who had never drank alcohol, owning alcohol-branded merchandise and susceptibility to drinking were reciprocally related, with each predicting the other during an eight-month period. In addition, owning alcohol-branded merchandise and having a susceptible attitude toward drinking predicted both the initiation of alcohol use and binge drinking, even after controlling for other risk factors." The implications of this study are significant. First, parents of adolescents should greatly discourage their teens from wearing and owning any alcohol branded merchandise. Second, school administrators should set very strict limits on teens bringing into the school alcohol branded merchandise and wearing of alcohol branded clothing. Third, mental health professionals who treat adolescents who have drinking problems should be very vigilant about what their patients wear and own in terms of alcohol branded merchandise. And, fourth, public health professionals should increase their efforts to educate parents about the risks associated with their children owning or wearing alcohol branded merchandise.
The Bottom Line: The results of this study strongly suggest that the owning or wearing of alcohol branded merchandise influences teens' drinking behavior.
Source: Original Article
Dr. Jeffrey Speller
Dr. Tanya Korkosz
Psychopharmacology Associates of New England
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