KEY POINTS:
Rich teenagers are likely to drink more often, but youngsters from poor areas are more likely to binge-drink when they get hold of alcohol, according to a researcher.
Massey University statistician Paul Sweetsur told the addictions conference that a $100 increase in pocket money or other income increased the chances of drinking for a child aged 12 to 13 by 6 per cent.
But the same child's chances of drinking would also increase, by 3 per cent, if he or she lived in a deprived area. For older teens aged 14 to 17, living in a deprived area made it less likely that teenagers were drinking at all, but increased the average amount of alcohol drunk in each drinking session.
This apparently contradictory result was consistent with adult research showing that Pacific Islanders are also much less likely than Maori and Europeans to drink at all, but that if they do drink they are more likely to drink dangerously. The research was based on a telephone survey of 1171 Auckland youngsters aged 12 to 17.
The study found that girls were slightly more likely than boys to drink alcohol at least once a week up to the age of 15, but boys took over from 16 upwards. By age 16 to 17, 34 per cent of girls and 39 per cent of boys were drinking at least once a week.
Up to age 15, parents were the main source of the liquor, but from 16 upwards the main source was friends - although 29 per cent of 16- and 17-year-olds also said they had bought alcohol themselves.
"The most interesting finding was that parents' supply of alcohol didn't predict drinking greater amounts, whereas friends' supply did," Mr Sweetsur said,
"If the parents are supplying it, it appears that the drinking sessions are more controlled than when friends are supplying."
