[...] the study also looked at what influences excessive teen drinking - and the habits of parents seem to be particularly powerful.So, kids are more likely to indulge in booze if their parents - with whom they share genes - are fond of a drink or seven? As has been known for around 200 years, you mean?
The odds of a teenager getting drunk repeatedly is twice as great if they have seen their parents under the influence, even if only a few times.
How fascinating!
And the authors say that parental supervision is also important - if parents don't know where their children are on a Saturday night, or let them watch 18 certificate films unsupervised, they are more likely to have had an alcoholic drink.And that if it is in the parents' nature to be risk tolerant with regard to what they permit their kids to do, consequentially the same attitude to risk is likely to be replicated in the offspring to whom the parents' genes are passed?
Ground-breaking stuff! Well, that's the Nobel sorted for this year, other social scientists may as well sell up their epidemiological software and drive a cab.
The Royal College of Physicians then chips in with their unique brand of logic.
"This shows that the government needs to concentrate on increasing the price per unit of alcohol and reducing its availability as their main priorities"Yes. The fact that human DNA is performing in exactly the way it has done for millions of years is evidence that Tesco should have to up the price of their beer.
Truly we are blessed to share our time on Earth with such genius minds.
UPDATE: As noted in the comments, this is another example of the tobacco control template being used to good effect by those intent on denormalising alcohol. Exactly the same 'monkey see, monkey do' junk science has been a prime justification for banning smoking in parks. You know, where kids go.
