A study conducted on 15-year-olds found that those who had been most exposed to alcohol use in the movies were more likely to have tried alcohol in their lives. The study also noted that these teenagers were also twice as likely to binge drink. This post will go over the results of the study and what they mean for your child.
You may be thinking that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of reasons that contribute to why a person drinks, how can these researchers claim a correlation? The authors of the study stated that they controlled for early life factors and even after they were as conservative as possible, the correlation was still very high.
The researchers followed teenagers born between 1991 and 1992. They periodically followed up with them throughout their lives. At age 15, 5,000 of them completed a computer-based survey, which asked if they had seen 50 randomly selected movies. The researchers broke down each movie based on the amount of time alcohol is viewed consumed on screen.
Based upon the answers they were able to calculate average viewing time for each teenager. The authors found the group that viewed the most alcohol use in movies were also the group most likely to have tried alcohol before.
Underage drinking is seen by many as a rite of passage for teenagers. All teenagers should have at least one story of going to a party and getting sick after drinking too much. But it is important to remember that teens are not permitted to drink alcohol, and if they get arrested for it, it could impact their future. If your child was arrested on alcohol-related charges, then you may want to speak to an attorney. A lawyer can help your child prepare his or her defense. The more prepared you are with the judge and the prosecutor, the better deal that you can secure to protect your child.
