Four in 10 15-year-olds have tried alcoholic drink

Nearly four in 10 Greek adolescents have tried alcohol before the age of 15 while 6.8 percent had their first taste before their 10th birthday, according to the findings of a new study. 

Two in three young Greeks, of the 1,459 respondents aged between 15 and 30 polled in the study carried out by the University of Western Attica’s biomedical engineering department, reported drinking to excess while 25 percent said they have driven a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and 11 percent of them reported having been in a vehicular accident while drunk driving. 

The greatest concern flagged by researchers however was the evidence that children are having their first taste of alcohol at an increasingly young age.

“The fact that many young people are starting drinking from an increasingly young age is very worrying and in total opposition to the goal of a society to reduce the use of alcohol, particularly among the young,” the University of Western Attica’s study said in its conclusions.