This report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation examines the influence that family can have on how children in their pre-teen years learn about alcohol, and identifies the need for and approaches to providing parental guidance on the subject.

Childhood experiences and the influence of family are crucial to forming future drinking habits. Much emphasis has been placed on understanding the impact of problem drinking within the family, especially on children in their teenage years. Much less is known about how younger children learn about alcohol in so-called ‘ordinary families’. This report examines how different economic circumstances, parenting styles and parents’ drinking behaviours can influence how children view and understand alcohol.

The report:

• provides a children’s perspective on exposure to family drinking and sampling alcohol;
• offers insights into the ways that parents introduce alcohol, and into their influence over future drinking behaviour; and
• illustrates the diversity of parental approaches through a series of family case studies.

Download the full report:

Pre-teens learning about alcohol drinking and family contexts (PDF)