The earlier drinking begins in adolescence, the higher the risk of heavy drinking and alcohol-related harms in early adulthood.
New research led by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at UNSW Sydney found that those who began drinking as early as age 12 were more likely to report heavy episodic drinking and alcohol abuse than those who started drinking at age 18.
The long-term study, published today in Addiction, followed the alcohol use of more than 900 Australian adolescents annually for 10 years.
"Our findings support the current guidelines recommending teenagers avoid alcohol until adulthood and reinforce the need for public health intervention targeting both children and parents," says Associate Professor Amy Peacock, Deputy Director of NDARC and the senior author of the study.
"It also challenges the assumption that the occasional sip or taste at the dinner table with parents is harmless compared to consuming whole drinks, as the risk of alcohol-related harms in our study was elevated regardless of the amount consumed," A/Prof. Peacock says.
She says one positive finding from the study was that risky drinking behaviour peaks and declines relatively quickly, regardless of age of initiation.
"Despite the rapid escalation of consumption, we saw evidence of 'ageing out' in some participants for both heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related harms after peaking around age 20," says first author of the study, Dr Philip Clare, who is a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney.
"While it is possible that the risk of harm may decline without intervention, our focus should remain on reducing the 'peak' and any long-term impacts, such as alcohol dependence and alcohol use disorder," Dr Clare says.
"This requires prevention and early intervention in adolescence."
What did the study find?
As part of the prospective cohort study, the research team looked at patterns of consumption based on the age at which drinking alcohol started, using data from the Australian Parental Supply of Alcohol Longitudinal Study (APSALS).
Participants in APSALS were recruited in adolescence at an average age of 13 from more than 100 Australian schools. The participants were followed annually until adulthood.
Overall, those who initiated alcohol use at age 12 had a lower risk of consumption and harm in the following year compared to those who initiated later in adolescence or early adulthood.
However, by age 20, these early initiators were 24% more likely to report monthly heavy episodic drinking - consuming at least four standard drinks on an occasion.
In addition, 73% were more likely to experience alcohol-related harms than those who initiated at age 18.
Similar results were reported for symptoms consistent with alcohol dependence (20% higher risk), alcohol abuse (54%) and alcohol use disorder (36%).
The study also found later initiation to alcohol was associated with a more rapid escalation in drinking and associated harms - but still not to the extent seen among the early initiators.
"Initiation to drinking whole drinks showed largely similar trends to initiation of any alcohol consumption. However, the early patterns were steeper and more similar across initiation ages," the authors say.
They caution that more research is needed given the current general decline in alcohol consumption among young people in Australia.
