Adolescent drinking is associated with ill health, premature death, unplanned pregnancy, violence and injury among other social and physical harms. Early onset drinking is also associated with alcohol dependence and the use of other drugs an association not strongly linked to genetics, but rather environmental factors (de Bruijn and Johansen 2009). Recent evidence shows alcohol marketing as one environmental factor linked to beginning to drink and the volume and pattern of young people’s drinking.
This fact sheet was prepared by Rebecca Gordon and Peter Anderson on behalf of the German Centre for Addiction Issues (DHS).
