該不該讓孩子喝酒?大綱

We're not sure where letting children drink booze fits into permissive, authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles, but a research team from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are giving it a shot.

我們不確定讓孩子喝酒是屬於放養型的教育方式還是專制權威的教育方式，但是新南威爾士大學的一個研究小組正在進行試驗。

During their four-year-long study, researchers discovered that kids who were given alcohol by their parents were more likely to be drinking full serves by the time they were 15 or 16, but were far less likely to binge drink.

在他們爲期四年的研究中，研究員們發現那些被父母允許喝酒的孩子在15或16歲的時候更有可能喝完一整杯酒，但卻不太可能豪飲。

Analysing nearly 2,000 Year 7 students and their parents from Sydney, Perth and Tasmania over a four-year period, the researchers measured the teenagers' consumption of whole drinks, their binge drinking (consuming four or more drinks in one sitting), as well as who supplied them with the alcohol: their parents, friends, or other adults.

爲期四年的研究中，研究員們分析了近2000名7年級的學生以及他們的父母，他們來自悉尼、佩思和塔斯馬尼亞。研究員們測量了這些青少年的酒量，豪飲的量（一次至少喝四杯），以及讓他們喝酒的父母、朋友和其它成人的酒量。

The study found that when children were given alcohol from their parents, they were least likely to binge drink.

研究發現當酒是父母給的時候，他們最不可能豪飲。

But what about the long-reported damages that alcohol can have on developing teenage brains? Lead author of this study, UNSW Professor Richard Mattick, says that giving children alcohol at an earlier age could be serve as a preventative measure of kids developing alcohol-related problems later in life.

但是，有關長期以來聲稱酒精可能會損害青少年大腦發育的報告又該如何解釋呢？這項研究的主要作者新南威爾士大學的理查德·馬蒂克教授說："在孩子幼年時期讓他們喝點酒可以預防他們將來有酗酒問題。"

"There is a body of research indicating the adolescent brain is still developing well into the early 20s and alcohol may interfere with optimum development," says Professor Mattick, a Principal Research Fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, as reported by Medical Xpress.

《醫學快訊》（Medical Xpress）報道，"有一組研究表明青少年大腦在小20歲時仍然發育的很好，而酒精可能會干預最佳發展，"國家藥物與酒精研究中心主研究員馬蒂克教授說道。

"But also we know parents want to do the right thing for their children and there has been anecdotal evidence that children introduced to alcohol by their parents, as is common in some European cultures, may be less likely to develop problems with alcohol."

"但我們也知道父母們想爲孩子做好事，並且也有一些軼事證據表明，在一些歐洲國家，父母讓孩子喝點酒是正常事，而且這些孩子不太可能有酗酒問題。"

However, there is one result from the study Professor Mattick can't ignore: that being given alcohol at an early age by the parents doubled a child's likely hood of drinking than their peers.

然而，研究中有一個結果是馬蒂克教授不能忽視的：父母在孩子年幼時讓他們喝酒，那他們喝酒的可能性是同齡人的兩倍。

"There may be later harms that are not yet obvious, and we are aware that early initiation of drinking is strongly associated with later alcohol use problems in adulthood - delay is the best strategy."

"也許有些後期傷害還不明顯，但我們要知道幼年開始飲酒與成年後喝酒問題是緊密相連的--延遲孩子的喝酒年齡是最好的方法。"