Youths who start drinking alcohol before 14 years of age have a 78% higher risk of having an alcohol problem in later years compared with people who start when they are at least 21, say researchers from Boston University School of Public Health, USA.

The researchers found that the earlier the drinking started before the age of 21, the higher the risk, year-by-year, of alcoholism later in life.

Ralph W. Hingson and team looked at information from interviews with 43,000 Americans aged over 18 from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, 2002 - 2002. Of the people interviewed, 4% were alcoholics when the interview took place while over 12% had had an alcohol dependency problem at some time. The data relied on interviewees trying to remember how old they were when they first started drinking.

Of concern was data that indicated that those who started drinking alcohol at 14 or younger had a much higher chance of becoming alcoholics within ten years of their first drink. The risk was there regardless of sex, race, educational level, marital status, socioeconomic level, antisocial behaviour history and smoking patterns.

Source: ‘Age at Drinking Onset and Alcohol Dependence’ Age at Onset, Duration, and Severity. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:739-746.