Sarah Rieckmann

English 102
Salyers
1st October, 2015

Alcohol consumption in European youth

Today children are often accustomed early to the taste of alcohol because in sweets,
food, and even the medicine, which are sometimes produced specifically for this age group,
suitable alcohol is included. Some children collect their first experiences with alcohol in
family parties - it may be drinking a small glass of champagne for a celebration. For children
this is the first step in the adult's world, because the adults show the children that alcohol
belongs to the adult person. But many parents do not recognize that alcohol is more dangerous
for children. A childs nervous system reacts more sensitively to alcohol from only 0.5
thousandths of alcohol in the blood a child can become unconscious. With any suspicion of
alcohol poisoning, a doctor must be visited immediately. The smaller the body weight of the
child, the higher the blood alcohol content in the body will be and already these tiny amounts
of alcohol can be deadly. Frequent consumption of alcohol affects the mental and physical
development of the children. Studies prove that the brain of alcoholics can develop
abnormally and youthful alcoholics have, in addition, a 60 percent higher likelihood to
become dependent on alcohol. Indeed, the cerebral development and the bodily development
of a child can be affected when only small amounts of alcohol are consumed, not only large
amounts to the point of drunkenness.

To determine the rates that regular children and youngsters drink alcohol, a study was
done at the university of Bielefeld in 2011 to show how much they actually consume. For

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example, children often take beer, wine, and spirits for themselves from their homes. Regular
consumption of alcohol was defined as the consumption of alcoholic beverages, even in small
quantities, at least once per week. In the prevailing number of the countries from the study,
regular consumption of alcohol in under 11-year-olds still plays no essential role. Except for
a few exceptions, the rates of alcohol consumption in children under 11-years-old are under
an average of 5%. The rates in Norway, Finland, Germany, Latvia, and Switzerland are
especially low, where among 11-year-old girls there is not a prevalent or regular consumption
of alcohol. A moderate increase of the rates in these countries arises with the 13-year-olds.
Otherwise, the order of rank of the childhood alcohol consumption rates of the countries
nearly stays the same, with only an above-average spike in Germany and Denmark.
Among the 15-year-olds in Germany and Denmark, the consumption of alcohol is average in
comparison to a large part of the youngsters in all countries. The youngsters should also state
how often they have gotten drunk in their life. In northwest Europe, the rates of the
youngsters with multiple experiences of getting drunk rises with the age group quickly. These
represent the highest rates in Europe. The ascertained frequencies in Great Britain are about
10 times higher than in Sweden, France, Germany, Switzerland and Norway. With the 13year-olds, the difference between the top and lowest found frequency equates \ to about 6fold. Among the 15-year-olds, the difference reduces between the countries by a factor of 3.
A geographic sample is to be observed; youngsters from the South-European countries near
the Mediterranean Sea get drunk rather seldom, while youngsters from Western Europe and
Central Europe report disproportionately more bouts of drunkenness. With the exception of
Denmark, the Scandinavian countries have comparably low rates. In almost all countries,
boys have more experiences with drunkenness than girls, especially in young ages.

A very exciting question to consider is: why do the children already drink at such a
young age?

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Frequent consumption of alcohol and drunkenness are connected with problems at school for
many young children. There are reasons and motives for alcohol consumption, and for
youngsters, a role in wanting plays a part (e.g., celebrations, relaxation). However, there are
also reasons typical in adolescence, which relate to rising pressures and responsibilities,
which explain the higher rates of alcohol consumption. Different connections have been
described concerning these conditions: The consumption of alcohol or other drugs can
demonstrate, for example, being an adult but also nonconformity. Or it can be a sort of
emergency reaction to stress which originates from the upcoming developing duties. Some
authors see it as a developing job to learn and understand peoples dealings with alcohol.

Though according to statistics, the absolute consumption of alcohol decreases in

Germany. However, the trend towards the excessive drinking continuously increases.
According to a study of 3,400 students from ages ten to seventeen in Germany, alcohol
advertisements strengthen the trend towards the coma drinking in youngsters. Male
youngsters succumb to the charms of the advertisement more often than girls. Basically,
youngsters drink more alcohol more often when they see alcohol advertisements. Rum under
palms, herbal schnapps in the stage club, Prosecco in the women's round - only 1.5 percent of
the questioned students indicated to never have seen one of the aforementioned alcohol
advertisements. The hospital admittances of people under the legal drinking age with a
dangerous drunken stupor rose only during the past four years by 36 percent. The youngest
patients were twelve years old. These results underline the expert's report of the European
Commission on the influence of the alcohol advertisements on people under age. These
advertisements also deem to influence the underage drinking behavior.

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Bibliography

"Alkohol Bei Kindern Und Jugendlichen." Alkohol Bei Kindern Und Jugendlichen. Web. 4
Oct. 2015.

"Jugend Und Alkohol." Jugendliche Und Alkohol. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

Kaiser, Tobias. "Fast Jeder Deutsche Teenager Trinkt Alkohol." DIE WELT. 12 May 2015.
Web. 4 Oct. 2015.