Parents have more influence than they might think
Does talking to your adolescent about alcohol make a difference?
Absolutely, is the resounding answer from two drug experts. Steve Allsop, director of the National Drug Research Institute based at Curtin University, said there was a lot of evidence that parents' views mattered.
"If you communicate to your children what you expect, what you think the boundaries are, that you don't want them to do it, then that does have an influence," he said. It was also important to explain reasons for the boundaries, set the consequences and enforce them.
Many parents felt their children's peers were much more influential. "In a way that's true but parents can influence who their peers are," Professor Allsop said.
It is also important to explain the risks of drinking, including the effect on developing brains, violence, and greater vulnerability to sexual predators. "'I prefer you don't drink' is the message," he said. "'If you do drink, then I don't want you drinking more than two or three drinks and I prefer you to only drink in the presence of adults. But if you get into difficulty, here are some of the things you can do: if there is trouble, walk away from it, look after your mates, and call for help for an alcohol overdose. And phone me, it doesn't matter when.'"
Other tips are to buy your teenager a phone card, know who they are out with and to talk to other parents. And start talking now to children who will be leavers next year.
Shelley Beatty, senior lecturer in the Centre for Public Health at Edith Cowan University, believes talking to teenagers is important because it means parents are connected with their lives but the conversations should start before alcohol becomes an issue.
"Some families might say, 'Until you are 18, no alcohol is acceptable', and others might say, 'You can have some with us or if you are being supervised'. There must definitely be rules and standards and consequences, just as you have with other adolescent behaviours."
If alcohol is permitted, harm reduction strategies are needed and include rules about not drinking and driving, being with others, not leaving your mates, looking after your own drinks, eating first, spacing drinks, setting a curfew and ensuring they know basic first aid.
Is buying alcohol for your under-age teenager a good idea?
It is a dilemma because, on one hand, parents want to have some influence and control but, in general, it is not a good idea, according to Professor Allsop. "Many parents capitulate too easily," he said, adding many felt guilty and pressured by their teen's argument that their friends' parents bought drinks for them.
"Don't be bullied . . . because every other parent is being bullied in the same way," he said. "You have got to think about the risks. This is a drug after all and the age limit of 18 is there for a good reason."
The majority of young people don't drink large amounts of alcohol so it is not true that all parents are out there buying drinks for them, according to Professor Allsop. If parents bought a slab of beer or alcopops for their leaver who would be away for three days, it amounted to 36 standard drinks or more than 10 a day. "Is that sensible," he said. "Do you really think you are helping your child to be safe? Obviously not because that is a ridiculous amount."
If parents did ignore advice not to buy for their children, they needed to do the maths and work out how much to get, given that the recommendation for adults was not more than two standard drinks a day, and probably less for children.
Parents should never buy drinks for their children to share with friends. "You don't have the right to supply alcohol to other people's children," Professor Allsop said.
Dr Beatty agrees the question of whether to buy alcohol for your own teenagers is a difficult issue and depends on the family and circumstances. "Buying your kids a bottle of bourbon to take to a party, in my opinion, is irresponsible.
"If parents buy their kids a couple of drinks that they are going to have at the barbie at home or in a supervised setting, maybe for some families it is OK. But it is better not to, obviously. It is better that adolescents don't drink at all because they have still got all that brain development going on."
Should the legal drinking age in Australia be lifted to 21 years?
Professor Allsop said the evidence in favour of a higher drinking age was overwhelmingly compelling and was associated with decreased risks in young people. "And if you raise it to 21, the age of under-age drinkers goes up as well," he said.
The problem in Australia was that there was compulsory voting for 18-year-olds, making any move to raise the drinking age politically unpopular. "So we need to make sure we enforce the laws about serving alcohol to under-age people or drunk people and that we enforce the laws about drink driving," he said.
Dr Beatty is in favour of lifting the legal drinking age because the research evidence supports it, showing that it reduces alcohol-related problems. It also separates inexperienced drivers from alcohol.
"There are a lot of arguments that they (18-year-olds) are allowed to vote and go to war, and it is not a popular strategy, but the most effective strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm are actually those that are the most unpopular.
"They are concerned with changing the environment as well as educating young people and include taxing beverages according to their alcohol content, banning alcohol advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and raising the drinking age which can glamorise excessive consumption," she said.
"We do need to get tough," she said.
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Teen brains in jeopardy from alcohol
Does a small amount of alcohol teach teens to drink sensibly?
