Young people who begin drinking alcohol as early as age 12 are more likely to report heavy episodic drinking and alcohol abuse in early adulthood than those who started drinking at age 18, according to a new study involving researchers from the University of Sydney.
Published in Addiction , the study was led by UNSW's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) in collaboration with the University of Sydney, and tracked more than 900 Australian adolescents over a 10-year period. It found that early initiation to alcohol was associated with increased risk of alcohol abuse, dependence and other harms by age 20.
Dr Philip Clare , first author and senior research fellow at the University of Sydney School of Public Health , said the findings highlight the importance of prevention and early intervention.
"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," said Dr Clare.
"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," he said. "This requires prevention and early intervention in adolescence.
Risks of early alcohol initiation
Associate Professor Amy Peacock, Deputy Director of NDARC and senior author of the study, said: "Our findings support the current guidelines for recommending teenagers avoid alcohol until adulthood and reinforce the need for public health intervention targeting both children and parents.
"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."
Early alcohol use linked to higher rates of alcohol-related harms
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 started drinking later in adolescence or early adulthood. However, by age 20, these early initiators were 24 percent more likely to report monthly heavy episodic drinking - consuming at least four standard drinks on an occasion.
73 percent of early initiators were more likely to experience alcohol-related harms overall than those who initiated at age 18.
Similar results were reported for symptoms consistent with alcohol dependence (20 percent higher risk), alcohol abuse (54 percent) and alcohol use disorder (36 percent).
The study also found later initiation to alcohol was still associated with a more rapid escalation in drinking and associated harms - but not to the extent seen among the early initiators.
Experts say 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.
They caution that more research is needed given the current general decline in alcohol consumption among young people in Australia.
Hero image: Adobe Stock Photos
Research
Clare, Philip, Peacock, Amy, et al., ' Does alcohol use and related harm differ based on the age of initiation to alcohol? Results from a prospective cohort study ', (Addiction, 2025)
Declaration
Associate Professor Amy Peacock received untied educational grants from Mundipharma and Seqirus for post-marketing surveillance of pharmaceutical opioids, as well as funding from National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship and NHMRC Investigator Fellowship grants.
