Survey: Dutch Children Start Drinking at Age 12

[Champ]

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - More than 80 percent of Dutch children aged between nine and 15 say they have tried alcohol and on average start drinking at the age of 12, according to a survey.

The teen Web site Kaboem (www.kaboem.nl) said Monday a survey of 2,500 young people found nearly 40 percent had their first alcoholic beverage with a parent.

Some 68 percent of Dutch 15-year-olds admitted drinking alcohol often and a third of respondents said that when they drink they have enough to get drunk.

As in many other countries, boys drink more frequently than girls, the survey found. Forty percent of 15-year-old boys said they had been drunk at least once.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=6&u=/nm/20041220/od_nm/dutch_teens_dc

[Misunderestimator]

1. That would explain why my Dad gave me a beer when I was 12.

I doubt that it's just a Dutch thing though. I'd bet that most of Europe would show similar stats. (Except that, on edit, I just read the last paragraph... hmmm.)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. It's cultural. Children drink watered-down (or juiced down) wine

at family gatherings. Dad would let me sip some of the foam from the top of his beer cup at age 6. And my brain is still intact. In fact, I was always first of class.

[progmom]

2. There are pluses and minuses to this, I think

It seemed to me that by the time kids got to the legal driving age (18) most had lost the fascination with binge drinking. But maybe the lower incidence of drunken driving accidents has more to do with better transportation alternatives (trains, buses, bikes).

[LynzM]

6. I think that the lessening of binge drinking is a big plus

Older teens/college kids don't seem to have the fascination with alcohol, because it has no 'mysterious and forbidden' aspect to it. Not that binge drinking doesn't happen, but it didn't seem to be the point of drinking, most places I went in Europe..

[da_chimperor]

4. People in the Netherlands can buy beer at 16

But everyone I know started drinking at 14. I love this country. :loveya:

[progmom]

5. Oh - I always thought that the drinking age applied to hard liquor

...and that beer and wine were fine at any age. Did I get that wrong?

[da_chimperor]

8. Eh, there's two ages actually

16 for beer and wine, 18 is for the hard stuff. 18 is also the age for buying cigarettes, and possessing small amounts of all sorts of drugs. It's an interesting country.

[Wat_Tyler]

7. OH MY GOD!

HOW UNLIKE ALL OTHER KIDS!