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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Kids who own t-shirts, caps, or other merchandise sporting the logos of alcoholic beverages are more likely to end up consuming alcohol themselves. Whats more, they tend to move from just a drink or two to binge drinking over time.
These findings come investigators at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center who conducted telephone surveys with more than 6,500 kids ages 10 to 14 in 2003, following up with them again 8 and 24 months later.
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Results showed 11 percent of the kids owned some type of alcohol-branded merchandise at the 8 month follow up. By 24 months, that figure was 20 percent. Sixty-four percent of the products fell into the clothing category, and 75 percent of the brands were related to beer, with Budweiser leading the pack at 45 percent.
Among kids who reported never having had a drink in the first survey, owning alcohol-branded merchandise significantly increased the chances they would have taken their first drink by the 8 month follow up. Owning this type of merchandise and having a susceptible attitude toward drinking was linked to both the initiation of drinking and the transition to binge drinking.
The authors believe these results suggest more should be done to keep kids from owning alcohol-branded merchandise.
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SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, published online March 2, 2009
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