First author Dorothea Blomeyer, a senior researcher at the Central Institute of Mental Health, said that it has long been known that drinking alcohol at an early age is associated with heavier drinking in general, and with more severe problems resulting from alcohol use, including alcohol dependency.

Rainer Spanagel, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Heidelberg, added that many studies suggest that there is an association between early AFD and later alcohol use disorders, which could be relevant in the context of stressful live events.

The researchers examined participants from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, a study of the outcome of early risk factors from infancy to adulthood. This study included 306 participants who were asked about their AFD, stressful life events in the past three years, daily stress events in the past month, and drinking behaviors at 22 years of age. They were also asked about how much alcohol they consumed and the frequency of their drinking during the last month. Because the researchers regularly assessed the participants during adolescence, their responses are assumed to be more reliable than adults trying to remember their adolescence.

Blomeyer said that the researchers found that the impact of stressful life events on drinking patterns depends on the AFD. The earliest AFD among the participants was 8 years, and about half the participants had started drinking before they were 14. The earlier the AFD, the stronger the association between stressful life events and drinking in young adulthood. Stress-related drinking is characterized more by a higher number of drinks and not frequent drinking, according to Blomeyer.

Spanagel added that the association seemed to occur when individuals suffered from stressful life events such as job loss, but not from daily stressors. Blomeyer said they suspect that people with earlier AFDs learn to use alcohol to respond to stressful situations in adolescence.

Blomeyer added that the study adds to researchers’ knowledge of how the association between AFD and later heavy drinking might develop. Their study suggests that the association relies on a “forward-feeding” effect from heavier drinking in later adolescence, which is usually associated with stressful life events.

Spanagel added that large studies have indicated that each year, adolescents start having their first alcoholic drink at an earlier age, which is a problem that must be addressed. The researchers said prevention efforts should be aimed at delaying the onset of the first drink, as this can help prevent later alcohol use disorders and heavy drinking.

Source: Science Daily, An Early Age at First Drink Combined With Stressful Life Events Can Lead to Heavy Drinking, March 16, 2011

According to Canadian researchers, teens who use marijuana for these reasons often report that they do so because they feel they have no other option. Dr. Joan L. Bottorff of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and her colleagues stressed the importance of paying attention to those teens that are experiencing concerns about their health and help them find another way to cope.

During a study of adolescent marijuana users, Dr. Bottorff and her researchers determined that the majority of users were inclined to do so to ease stress and anxiety. A close second was to help the teen sleep better. Others relied on the drug for pain relief and to ease depression.

Many of the study participants had been prescribed legal drugs to help manage these problems but found that they either didn’t work or had undesirable side effects. When adults or medical professionals were sought out to help, teens reported that their concerns weren’t taken seriously or the offered treatments didn’t help.

Others simply lacked a supportive environment. “The stories that the kids told us, some of the situations were kind of sad stories,” Bottorff said in the Fox News report. “Some of the kids that we interviewed didn’t have really strong family support systems behind them.”

The research team suggests that adults work with these teens to help them find other ways to cope with things in their lives they find to be difficult. They point to such options as counseling, stress management, social skills training, pain management and more. Although these methods were suggested, researchers also understand that the youth in the study had minimal access to such resources.