We certainly see clothing being worn by adults that carry alcohol-brands, but how frequently do we see children and teens wearing alcohol-branded merchandise (ABM)? Dr. Sandra Jones has attempted to answer that question by performing a systematic review (peds.2015-3970) of the prevalence of children’s exposure to ABM and the impact of that ABM on current and future drinking by these young people.
Nine cross-sectional and 4 longitudinal studies were identified that looked at child or teen ownership of ABM and the association of having this merchandise and subsequent drinking. While the number of studies searched for may be viewed as small, the results demonstrate ABM ownership ranging from 11 to 59% with teen males owning the most, and in turn a strong relationship between having these products and increased risk of future drinking.
So what can be done about this? Perhaps a start would be to discourage families from buying this merchandise for their children—or at least letting them know what other studies indicate in regard to increasing their children or teen’s risk of drinking during adolescence. There is much we can do from an advocacy standpoint to educate and advocate against ABM being accessible to children and teens—and hopefully this review will convince you of the need to do this—or at least educate your pre-teen and teen patients and their families to be aware of the risks of giving this merchandise to their older children and adolescents. There’s a lot of information to drink up in this review—with some sobering take home lessons that will result if you take the time to read it.
