Kids Allowed Sips of Alcohol Are More Likely to Drink in High School, Study Says

In this June 6, 2008 file photo, a row of freshly poured draft beers are seen in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

(CNN) – If you’ve already allowed your kids to take a little sip of your beer or wine from time to time, you probably won’t be pleased when you hear the findings of a new report.

The study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, found that children who had sipped alcohol by the sixth grade were about five times more likely to have a full drink by the time they were in high school and four times more likely to binge drink or get drunk.

“I don’t think parents need to feel that their child is ‘doomed,’ ” Kristina Jackson, one of the co-authors of the study, said of parents who already let their kids have sips of alcohol.

She noted, in an email interview, that only a quarter of the sippers reported consuming a full drink by the ninth grade and that less than 10% said they got drunk.

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