Depressed Youth Try Alcohol Sooner

Ten- to 13-year-olds who show signs of depression are more than twice as likely to try alcohol than their peers, a Columbia University study has shown.

Interviewing more than 1000 children in this age group who had never tried alcohol, researchers found that 14 percent of those with high levels of depressive symptoms and 10 percent of those with medium levels of depressive symptoms tried alcohol during the yearlong course of the study, compared to just four percent of subjects with no or low levels of depressive symptoms.

The study's co-author, Dr Ping Wu, noted the importance of these findings in the wake of previous studies showing the relationship between early alcohol use and later dependency:

"The finding that early life depressive symptoms may lead to earlier onset of alcohol use has important clinical and policy implications...because studies have shown that people who had early onset of alcohol use were much more likely to develop alcohol abuse/dependence later in their lives."

Read more: Depressed kids more prone to drink early

ABSTRACT: Childhood Depressive Symptoms and Early Onset of Alcohol Use