Drinking and troubled teenagers

Teenagers who drink heavily are more likely to have behavioural problems and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim surveyed 8,983 13-19-year-olds. 80% of the sample said that they had tried drinking while 57% said that they had got drunk at least once. Among the children who said that they had attention problems at school 43% had been drunk more than ten times compared to only 25% of those with no concentration difficulties. 35% of the teenagers with conduct problems got drunk frequently compared to 27% of those without problems. Among girls more frequent drinking binges were linked to anxiety and depression. It was not clear from this research whether the drinking came before or after these problems.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5695TK20090710?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&sp=true