Comments on: Is It OK to Let Your Kid Taste Alcohol on New Years? http://www.kidglue.com/2009/12/31/is-it-ok-to-let-your-kid-taste-alcohol-on-new-years/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:28:00 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Lew Bryson http://www.kidglue.com/2009/12/31/is-it-ok-to-let-your-kid-taste-alcohol-on-new-years/comment-page-1/#comment-4696 Lew Bryson Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:07:41 +0000 http://www.kidglue.com/?p=17733#comment-4696 You know, "in reality," when you say "The earlier children are introduced to alcohol, or drugs, or sex, the more likely they are to abuse or face serious consequences as a result of those substances", you're confusing correlation with causality. It's kind of like saying eating ice cream causes drowning, because drowning and ice cream consumption both go up in the summer (only...that's also when people go swimming, which can, unlike eating ice cream, cause drowning). Try this instead: “AFD (age at first drink) is not specifically associated with alcoholism but rather is correlated with a broad range of indicators of disinhibited behavior and psychopathology. Moreover, individuals who first drink at a relatively early age manifest elevated rates of disinhibitory behavior and psychopathology before they first try alcohol. Taken together, these findings suggest that the association of AFD with alcoholism reflects, at least in part, a common underlying vulnerability to disinhibitory behavior. Whether an early AFD directly influences risk of adult alcoholism remains unclear.” That's from REAL scientists (McGue, M., et al.: Origins and Consequences of Age at First Drink. in: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. 25(8): 1156-1165, August 2001). See, you have to read the WHOLE study. Not just the part that fits your agenda. I hate the idea of kids being harmed by alcohol: getting drunk, becoming drunks, or being abused by adult drunks. But stopping that takes honest research and policies that actually work. Not twisting the truth to make things look worse than they are. You know, “in reality,” when you say “The earlier children are introduced to alcohol, or drugs, or sex, the more likely they are to abuse or face serious consequences as a result of those substances”, you’re confusing correlation with causality. It’s kind of like saying eating ice cream causes drowning, because drowning and ice cream consumption both go up in the summer (only…that’s also when people go swimming, which can, unlike eating ice cream, cause drowning).

Try this instead:
“AFD (age at first drink) is not specifically associated with alcoholism but rather is correlated with a broad range of indicators of disinhibited behavior and psychopathology. Moreover, individuals who first drink at a relatively early age manifest elevated rates of disinhibitory behavior and psychopathology before they first try alcohol. Taken together, these findings suggest that the association of AFD with alcoholism reflects, at least in part, a common underlying vulnerability to disinhibitory behavior. Whether an early AFD directly influences risk of adult alcoholism remains unclear.” That’s from REAL scientists (McGue, M., et al.: Origins and Consequences of Age at First Drink. in: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. 25(8): 1156-1165, August 2001).

See, you have to read the WHOLE study. Not just the part that fits your agenda. I hate the idea of kids being harmed by alcohol: getting drunk, becoming drunks, or being abused by adult drunks. But stopping that takes honest research and policies that actually work. Not twisting the truth to make things look worse than they are.

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