“America has an epidemic of underage drinking that germinates in elementary and middle schools,” reports a wide-ranging study from the Columbia National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. According to their findings, 10% of fourth graders have already had their first sip of alcohol, and by high school, over 5 million students are binge drinking at least once a month. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimated that underage drinkers account for roughly 25% of all alcohol sales.

Many parents struggle to find answers. Why is drinking while underage so alluring? The teenage years are a relatively long period of maturation where kids are continually pushing their minds, bodies and boundaries to the limit. Many kids enjoy the physical feeling of being “drunk” and their bodies are naturally more susceptible to the negative effects of alcohol, like drowsiness, withdrawal or lack of coordination, which explains why binge drinking is so common later on.

Some kids drink to cover up behavior problems, antisocial tendencies, aggression, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem or shyness. Drinking while underage can be encouraged by genetic or environmental factors as well. According to the NIAAA, children whose parents are alcoholics are 4-10 times more likely to develop addiction alcoholism.

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