Early use, later problems

STUDY FINDS LINK IN AGE, ALCOHOLISM

A new study by federal researchers points to what Santa Clara County health
officials and children's advocates have suspected all along: The younger a
person starts drinking, the more likely that individual will abuse alcohol
later in life.

In a survey released Wednesday, researchers from the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that more than 40 percent of people who
started drinking before age 15 became alcohol abusers, compared with 10
percent of those who waited until they were 21.

Medical experts have said early exposure to drinking, along with family
history of alcohol abuse, other family pressures and alcohol
advertisements, all can encourage children to begin drinking at earlier
ages and make breaking the habit more difficult as they grow up.

``It remains to be seen whether it is the delay in alcohol use or,
possibly, other associated factors that explain the inverse relationship
between age at drinking onset and lifetime risk for alcohol abuse and
alcoholism,'' said Dr. Enoch Gordis, institute director.

The national study underscores what local prevention specialists say they
believed all along from research and their own observations: Alcohol can be
at the core of problems for kids as young as 10.

``We've always known there's a correlation between age of onset and
problems later,'' said Robert Garner, director of the Santa Clara County
Department of Alcohol and Drug Services, which works with the county's
schools, health services and other organizations that serve youth.

``Our community reflects the nationwide norm,'' Garner said. ``Alcohol is
readily available and acceptable, and when a kid gets into trouble with
alcohol, parents say, `Thank God it wasn't drugs.'

`Pay attention'

``This study is telling them to pay attention to the drinking.''

Programs already in place in the county include a state-mandated school
curriculum that provides information about alcohol abuse, mentoring
programs, after-school activities and intervention services.

The county does not keep local numbers that correspond with the national
study. But an April 1997 survey of 507 adolescents and young adults in the
juvenile justice system, the Children's Shelter and continuation schools
found that 74 percent had a chemical dependency problem. The drug of choice
for 42 percent of them was marijuana, followed by 9 percent for
amphetamines and 8 percent for alcohol.

The survey of 414 males and 93 females ages 12 to 18 is a snapshot of a
particular group and not indicative of the population at large.

The results of that survey are being studied by local officials and others
to develop a comprehensive services system for adolescents in the county,
said Linda Kury, health services supervisor for the county.

Those new ``wraparound services,'' she said, could address transportation
for teens who can't or don't drive, privacy issues for minors who may need
parental consent, and developmental factors of substance abuse on growing
bodies.

Psychological health

``We need to step back from the concept of prevention because you can't
isolate drugs and alcohol from truancy, pregnancy, suicide and the whole
constellation of behaviors that drive kids today,'' Garner said. ``It's not
realistic. We need more strategies that help kids be healthy
psychologically first.''

The national study showed that the risk of alcohol dependence decreased by
14 percent for each year the start of drinking was delayed. The risk of
lifetime alcohol abuse fell by 8 percent with each additional year.

The analysis, by researchers Bridget F. Grant and Deborah A. Dawson, is
published in the January issue of the Journal of Substance Abuse.