Youngsters will carry on drinking alcohol, even if the legal age limit is raised. That’s the general consensus, as nothing is more exciting than doing something that’s not allowed. But Dutch research shows that strict rules actually help.

Dutch teenagers and booze - it’s a dangerous combination. In the past four years, the number of young people ending up in hospital with alcohol poisoning has more than doubled to 684. And binge drinking known as ‘coma boozing’ – which means drinking until you literally drop – is a well-known phenomenon.

Strict rules
So how should alcohol abuse among teenagers be tackled? “Making rules: no alcohol before the age of 16,” says social scientist Ina Koning from the University of Utrecht. It might sound old-fashioned, but according to Ms Koning it does work.

“The advice we give to parents is: don’t give children alcohol. Make rules and try to postpone drinking as long as possible. For a long time, it was thought that children would do it in secret. But our research shows that this is not the case. Strict rules have a positive effect on youngsters.”

Over the past five years, Ms Koning has followed over 3000 teenagers. In a series of five lessons, they were confronted with the consequences of drinking alcohol at a young age. The parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire about alcohol use. This strict approach is only effective if both the parents and the children are aware of the dangers of drinking alcohol at a young age.

More responsive
Ms Koning’s research shows that there’s no difference between girls and boys, or between children whose parents do drink and those that don’t. Ms Koning discovered that children in a lower level of education and with behaviour problems are more responsive to stricter rules.

“That’s because these groups often start drinking at an earlier age. They also drink more. It could be that this programme means more to these youngsters, because it is closer to home for them. They are more open to it.”

Alcohol use
But strict rules alone aren’t enough. Secondary schools also have a role to play. Teenagers should hear the same message at school as they do at home. So schools should inform their pupils about the risks of alcohol. And a government campaign on the issue is also helpful, says Ms Koning.

And what about students? Students are notorious for heavy drinking due to peer pressure. According to Ms Koning, there has been little research into this group in the Netherlands. Recent research by the University of Ohio, however, shows that US students are proud of binge drinking. So much so they love to share the most embarrassing excesses on Facebook.

(hs/nc)