T-shirts Brand Kids as Potential Alcoholics
`Young adolescents who wear T-shirts and hats packing an alcohol brand name are more likely to start drinking, a new study finds.
The study was based on a survey of more than 2,000 students age 10-14 in New England. Surveys were done in 1999 and again one or two years later. The results were announced today.
Rate of drinking among those who owned a branded item was 25.5 percent, compared to 13.1 percent of those who did not own a branded item. After controlling for other risk factors for drinking, students who owned alcohol-branded merchandise were 1.5 times more likely to initiate drinking during the study period than those who did not.’
