Young adults, as well as teenagers, drink more under the influence of advertising for alcohol, researchers say.

A survey of young people aged 15 to 26 found that for each additional alcohol advertisement viewed a month, there followed a 1% rise in the average number of drinks consumed, says the study author, Leslie Snyder of the University of Connecticut in the United States.

The findings counter industry arguments that only adult drinkers heed alcohol advertising, Professor Snyder said in the study, published in the journal 'Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine' at New Year 2006

For the study, the researchers held four rounds of interviews between 1999 and 2001 with nearly 2000 young people.

They also found that for each additional dollar spent per person on alcohol advertising in a particular media market, study participants drank 3% more a month.

"The results also contradict claims that advertising is unrelated to youth drinking amounts, and that advertising at best causes brand switching, only affects those older than the legal drinking age or is effectively countered by current educational efforts," Professor Snyder said.

The study is the first of its kind to link young people's alcohol use directly to objective measures of industry spending on advertising.

Dominion Post 4 Jan. 2006

(This is a most important piece in the jig-saw of youth drinking and alcohol advertising)

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