UCI study faults teen drinking

Are teens from good families who don’t get into trouble still at risk if they try alcohol? According to a study by a UCI researcher, youthful experimentation with booze can make a child’s odds of other risky behavior rise all on its own.

Even teens with no troubled family history or behavioral problems are more likely to get pregnant or commit crimes if they try alcohol before they turn 15, according to a new study by UCI assistant professor Candice Odgers.

“People genuinely assume, ‘It’s not my kid,’” Odgers said in an interview. “But we know from national surveys in the U.S. that 50% of kids under 15 have had at least one full drink. … What are the implications for those children? For kids from well adjusted, happy families and not getting into trouble, is it going to have no consequence? Are they sort of immune?”

Odgers’ findings, published in the current issue of the journal Psychological Science, used data from a 30-year study of people born in New Zealand in 1972 and 1973 that tracked their behavior throughout their young lives. Using a technique called “propensity-score matching,” Odgers’ team paired up data from at-risk youths and those without special risk factors to compare how alcohol affected each group.

“We identified a sort of squeaky-clean group of kids, not troubled, nothing in their history,” Odgers said.

The answer?

Even if teens haven’t had any problems in the past, drinking makes them significantly more likely to test positive for herpes, get pregnant before age 20, become dependent on substances, and be convicted of criminal offenses, according to the study.

Teens with bad behavioral and family history who start drinking still have it one step worse, however.

In addition to all those risk factors, they are also less likely to finish school, the paper shows.

The new study fits in with other new research to paint a picture of adolescence as a “critical window” that leaves teens vulnerable to long-term health problems if something goes wrong, such as youthful drinking, Odgers said.

“Even those kids you don’t think you need to worry about, you might want to keep an extra eye on them,” she said.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes. com.