50 percent of 15-year-olds regularly drunk

Alcohol Consumption: About 50 percent of 15-year-old adolescents are regularly drunk.
Alcohol consumption is actually only allowed for young people from the age of 16 years, high-percentage alcoholic beverages even only from 18 years. Nevertheless, more than half of the young people have drunk alcohol up to the age of 13 years. One third of all 10- to 18-year-olds drink more than twice a month. This emerges from a study presented on Monday by Leuphana University Lüneburg.

Half of the 15-year-olds regularly drink large quantities of alcohol
On behalf of the DAK, the scientists from Leuphana University Lüneburg interviewed around 4,000 students at 17 schools in seven federal states about their alcohol consumption. One of the frightening results: the starting age for alcohol consumption is often already at twelve years and up to the age of 13, more than half of the boys and girls have already drunk alcohol. With increasing age, the amount of alcohol consumed and the frequency of drinking increases. According to the results of the study, every 15-year-old woman in a second household regularly consumes large quantities of alcohol. In total, two-thirds of all students between the ages of 10 and 18 have already drunk alcohol, with 37 percent of respondents consuming at least once a week drinks such as beer or wine. About one third of all students get drunk at least three times a month, according to the scientists.

High school students drink alcohol more often than others
The study also showed that, depending on the type of school, the results vary widely. High school students clearly consume the most alcohol, being „a risk factor (...) apparently the school stress experienced“ said Leuphana University project manager Silke Rupprecht. Forty-six percent of regular high school students were stating that they had one „high power pressure“ feel. For example, more than a third of high school students regularly drink alcohol, whereas only about a quarter of main, real and regional students do.

Brewing a serious problem in adolescents
„The current results show that alcohol is already part of everyday life for many young students, "commented Cornelius Erbe of the DAK on the statements of the study, although according to the expert especially the so-called binge drinking is a serious problem 43 percent of the surveyed students said at least once during the study period, drinking five glasses or bottles of beer, schnapps or mixed drinks in quick succession and one third of them said that they had crashed more than three times in the same time due to excessive alcohol consumption According to DAK expert Cornelius Erbe an extremely A worrying development, especially as binge drinking is growing in popularity as it grows older - 60 percent of 16-year-olds have been so drunk at least once, and the average age of first-time use is just under 16, according to the study, but more than half de r Boys and girls have already tried alcohol until the age of thirteen. Every tenth twelve-year-old boy consumes alcohol weekly.

The addictive and health risks of children and adolescents are often underestimated
Since children and adolescents can not assess the addictive potential of alcohol and their organism is particularly vulnerable to regular alcohol consumption, the study results should be a warning sign to all parents and educators. Because the child's nervous system is more sensitive than that of an adult and a child can become unconscious from just 0.5 per mill alcohol in the blood. And since children have far less body mass, the amount of alcohol consumed much faster significantly higher blood alcohol content. Already small amounts of alcohol can be fatal and the so-called binge drinking carries for the young people under no circumstances to be underestimated risk. Since the alcohol is consumed here in a very short period of time, often the typical state of intoxication is missing in the early stages and the adolescents are suddenly massively drunk, so that often follows a correspondingly bad crash. (fp, 11.10.2010)

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Picture credits: Christoph Aron (pixelmaster-x)