The French Don’t Have Underage Drinking Figured Out, Either
Contrary to popular opinion, the French don’t have underage drinking figured out, anymore than does the United States, Great Britain, and a host of other countries around the world.
Americans (and may other cultures) have long believed the French have it figured out when it comes to all things related to drinking alcohol — especially when it comes to youth drinking. We’ve long believed that the French cultural practice of letting their young drink early is what has helped French teens not view drinking alcohol as the forbidden fruit, therefore, as teens, French youth do not binge drink the way the American youth do, with our drinking age of 21. But, today’s (December 12, 2011) program, “French Lessons: Why Letting Kids Drink at Home Isn’t Tres Bien,” by Sarah Varney, for NPR’s Your Health program, shares what the French have found and why the belief that you can ‘teach your children to drink responsibly’ can be a real problem. I’m quoting a few of the program highlights below:
…20 percent of French 17-year-olds are drunk at least three times a month
…data now shows that when kids start drinking, especially binge drinking, at a younger age, “this increases really hugely the risk of becoming dependent [on] alcohol in the future.” [Bertrand Nalpas, head of the alcohol and addiction office at the French National Instittue on Health and Medical Research]
…”The age of first drink is about 12 years old in France,” he [Bertrand Nalpas, head of the alcohol and addiction office at the French National Instittue on Health and Medical Research] says. That first drink is usually at home with the family, which has made it difficult, says Nalpas, to get out the message that alcohol can be dangerous. If kids see their parents and grandparents drinking, he says, they think, “I can drink also.”
above quotes from program, “French Lessons: Why Letting Kids Drink at Home Isn’t Tres Bien“
Listen to the full program (just over 4 minutes) by clicking here.
I have to say — it is great to see this topic being addressed (and from the comments on the programs news feed, “discussed.”) Two concepts that we at BreakingTheCycles.com find helpful when having these kinds of discussions with children, teens and parents through BreakingTheCycles.com, are: 1) raising awareness about the 21st century brain research that explains why the teen brain is not the same as that of an adult’s and therefore why the teen brain is affected differently by binge drinking (or drugs) than the brain of an adult’s, and 2) helping people understand how the body processes alcohol, which is why it has such an impact on the brain.
With regards to #1, this article, “How Teens Become Alcoholics Before Age 21,” helps to explain this relatively new brain research and why alcohol is harmful to the teen brain in a way it is not necessarily harmful to the adult brain. With regards to #2, this article, “Why BAC Can Keep Rising After a Person Stops Drinking,” http://tiny.cc/u0o99 , helps explain alcohol’s impact on the brain and a person’s decision-making capabilities.
Lisa Frederiksen
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Hi LIsa,
Interesting to read about what is happening in France, as they did appear to be more sophisticated about drinking and seemed to have it all under control. It once again, as you say, emphasizes that children should not be drinking despite cultural differences.
It is interesting. For readers wanting to learn more, the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2007 Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking shares research findings (on page 9 of the Call) showing all but 1 of the 19 European countries surveyed having more students ages 15-16 than the U.S. who have engaged in binge drinking (5+drinks) within the past 30 days. Link to the Call to Action, http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/underagedrinking/http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/underagedrinking/. Thanks for the comment, Cathy!