According to an overview of the alcohol prevention program Efekt nearly 70 percent of Estonian students who had consumed alcohol had done it at home when their parents gave them some to try.
Nearly 70 percent of Estonian youth has tried alcohol at home
In addition, most of the young people thought that parents are aware of their alcohol consumption, while in reality less than 50 percent of parents knew about that, the National Institute for Health Development (TAI) said.
The study "The role of Estonian parents in alcohol prevention" was carried out to better understand what Estonian children and parents think about alcohol today and how they act, and to see if and whether the answers will change in time.
"Alcohol is the most popular narcotic among young people -- nearly half of the seventh grade respondents had consumed alcohol at least once in their life. Every third has also tried a tobacco product," senior specialist at TAI Triin Sokk said.
The children were also asked to rate the alcohol consumption of their parents. "Half of children said that their fathers consume alcohol every week and one in every four children said that their mother does that. When children were asked to rate the harmfulness of alcohol consumption on health, more than 90 percent found that it is harmful," Sokk said.