First time drunk, high? Likely, age 13

OTTAWA -- One in five Canadian adolescents ages 12 to 15 has been
drunk at least once, and has tried marijuana, according to a study
released yesterday by Statistics Canada.

The study, based on interviews with more than 4,000 youths in that age
group, found those most likely to use drugs and alcohol travelled with
peers who also did so, had parents who nagged or were inconsistent
about rules, and were more likely to be doing poorly in school.

Among those who had been intoxicated, the average age for their first
time was a few months past their 13th birthday -- around the same age
they were most likely to sample their first joint. The likelihood of
drinking and marijuana use increased with age; 66 per cent of
15-year-olds in the study reported consuming at least one drink and 38
per cent said they had smoked pot.

Friends were the most significant factor, the study suggested: Kids
who travelled in drinking circles were 11 times more likely to indulge
themselves; those with peers who smoked pot were twice as likely to,
compared to other teenagers. But parenting style also played a role,
the study found, with the odds of alcohol use rising, the more hostile
or inconsistent the parenting behaviour. Among youth in step-parent
families, drug use was almost double compared to those raised in other
two-parent settings.

Similar findings have also been reported in U.S. research, including
the suggestion that glue-sniffing, found in the Statistics Canada
study to start around the age of 12, was a more common habit among
younger adolescents than older ones.

But the study warns against making a straight causal link: It is
unclear, for example, how often nagging parents were responding to bad
behaviour rather than setting it off, and hard to say how much peer
pressure is to blame, or whether kids prone to drinking hang out with
like-minded friends.

The bottom line, suggests John Schulenberg, a leading expert on
adolescent behaviour at the University of Michigan, is that parents
should remember that the numbers are averages and they know their own
children best.

Long-term studies, he points out, have shown that the vast majority of
experimenting teens develop responsible habits in adulthood.

"Most try it, and most get over it," he said. "Freaking out" is about
the worst thing parents can do. "We know from decades of research,
that inconsistent, harsh parenting is a great way to train your child
to be a deviant delinquent."