You might think there's nothing wrong with allowing your teenager the occasional glass of wine or a shandy.
But in your efforts to encourage sensible drinking and honesty, you could be unwittingly setting your child on a path to alcoholism.
The earlier a teenager gets drunk for the first time in their life, the more likely they are to become a binge drinker - or even an alcoholic - a new study has found.
In contrast, teenagers who delay getting drunk for the first time are more likely to turn out to be sensible drinkers, according to U.S. researchers.
The study is the first to establish a link between the age when people first start drinking and how quickly they progress to getting drunk.
Previous Canadian research has found drinking a small glass of wine or beer at the age of 14 can help a young teenager along the path to binge drinking.
The findings revealed early experiences of alcohol is one of a wide range of factors that can be used to identify future binge drinkers.
The latest research found both the age at which a teenager drinks their first drink and the age at which they first get drunk, could be used to identify future problem drinkers.
Experts said interventions are needed to stop teens becoming problem drinkers.
They suggested targeting those who are already drinking but may have yet to get drunk.
And they advised trying to delay the age at which teenagers experience their first alcoholic drink.
The study involved 295 female and male teenage drinkers with an average age of 16
They were asked about their drinking and how often they binge drink, which was defined as drinking five or more drinks on a single occasion.
They found that starting to use alcohol at an early age and quickly progressing to the point of getting drunk are related to underage alcohol use and binge drinking.
Meghan Morean, assistant professor of psychology at Oberlin College, Ohio, in the U.S. said: 'Our research suggests that teenagers who have their first drink at an early age drink more heavily, on average, than those who start drinking later on.
'Our work also suggests that how quickly teenagers move from having their first drink to getting drunk for the first time is an important piece of the puzzle.
'In total, having your first drink at a young age and quickly moving to drinking to the point of getting drunk are associated with underage alcohol use and binge drinking, which we defined as five or more drinks on an occasion in this study.
'To summarise, we would expect a teenager who had his first drink at age 14, and who got drunk at 15, to be a heavier drinker than a teenager who had his first drink at age 14, and waited to get drunk until age 18.'
William Corbin, associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University, said the research could help design interventions to stop underage problem drinking.
'Efforts to distinguish between age of first alcohol use and progression to first heavy use as risk factors for heavy drinking have important implications for prevention efforts.
'If age of any use is the primary risk factor, our efforts should be primarily focused on preventing initiation of any use.
'If, however, age of first intoxication - or delay from first use to first intoxication - is a unique risk factor above and beyond age of first use, prevention efforts should also target those who have already begun drinking in an effort to prevent the transition to heavy drinking.
'The key finding here is that both age of first use and delay from first use to first intoxication serve as risk factors for heavy drinking in adolescence.'
The study was published online in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

参考译文：
有些家长会出于“善意”鼓励自己的小孩喝一点酒，认为这没什么大不了。但是，他们可能在不知不觉中给自己的孩子铺就了一条通往酗酒的道路。

一项针对十几岁青少年的新研究发现，第一次喝酒的年龄越早，他们未来越有可能成为一个狂饮者， 甚至是酗酒者。相比之下，青少年首次喝酒开始的年龄越晚则约有可能成为一名理性的饮酒者。

此前来自加拿大的一项研究发现，在14岁时开始第一次喝酒，哪怕是一小杯葡萄酒或啤酒，都更有可能引导孩子走向酗酒之路。

来自美国俄亥俄州奥伯林学院的研究者，对295名平均年龄为16岁青少年首次饮酒的年龄，与其后发展为酗酒之间的关联性进行了研究，结果揭示喝酒的早期经验可能是以后进展为狂饮的因素之一。

专家表示，需要采取干预措施以阻止青少年成为酗酒者。他们建议干预对象应该主要针对那些已经开始饮酒但是还没有沉迷的青少年，通过劝诫来延迟青少年首次饮酒的年龄。

目前，在世界范围内未成年人饮酒十分普遍。据英国2012年的一项调查，11至15岁所有青少年中有43％表示他们至少曾经喝过一次酒。 随着年龄的增长，曾有过喝酒体验的人比例快速上升，从11岁组的12%到15岁时急速升高到的74％。

这项研究提醒人们，由于你的一时的兴致，或者鼓励孩子勇敢的善意，可能不经意间“培养”了你的孩子酗酒的不健康生活方式，应该高度警惕。

原始来源：http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2766732/The-earlier-start-drinking-likely-develop-alcoholism-later-life-study-finds.html