NEARLY a quarter of 15-year-old girls get drunk at least once a week, according to new research that identifies them as worse binge drinkers than boys.

The study finds that in recent years, the overall proportion of children drinking alcohol has fallen, perhaps because of better education – but at the same time a hard core of heavy-drinking children has been growing.

According to the research, 23% of 14 and 15-year-old girls admitted they got drunk at least once a week, compared with 21% of boys.

Experts blamed easy access to alcohol, lack of guidance from parents and children copying the bingeing habits of older teenagers and young adults. They also believe that some teenage girls might be more prone than boys to imitate bad role models.

“There is more alcohol going down fewer throats and this is not the trend we wanted to see,” said David Regis, research manager of the Schools Health Education Unit, which conducted the study. “There is more antidrink advertising, which might explain the overall fall, but as 18 to 24-year-olds are drinking more, so children who have older brothers and sisters see them as role models.”

The research questioned more than 20,000 children about their drinking habits. It was part of a larger report by the unit, based in Exeter, which questioned more than 68,000 children across Britain aged between 10 and 15 about aspects of their lifestyle, ranging from alcohol and drug use to how they felt about their weight and bullying. The unit has conducted similar research since the 1990s, although this is the first year that 14 and 15-year-olds have been asked about how often they get drunk.

Since 1991, the proportion of girls consuming alcohol at least once a week has gone down from 52% to 37% while the figure for boys has fallen from 55% to 35%. Girls overtook boys in the frequency of their drinking for the first time in 2004.

Spirits proved to be the most popular drink for teenage girls with almost one-fifth of 14 and 15-year-olds saying they consumed them weekly compared with 13% of boys. The proportion drinking five or more measures a week went up from 3% to 5% between 1991 and 2006.

Boys’ favourite drink is beer and nearly one in 10 of those aged 14 and 15 said they drank at least five pints a week, more than twice the 4% identified in 1991.

“This binge drinking culture is now going right down into early teenage years and we need to find a way to change this as young people who start drinking in this way are more likely to become alcohol-dependent in the future,” said Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians.

Last month, a study using Department of Health data, showed the number of drunk teenagers admitted to hospital in England had risen by more than a third in a decade to 5,280 in the 10 years to 2005-6.

The new research will add to concerns that the government has failed to curb heavy drinking. Last week it emerged that admissions to accident and emergency units of patients with alco-hol-related problems at one main hospital had gone up threefold since the relaxation of the licensing laws in 2005. Labour claimed the change would help the move towards a more “continental” style of drinking, with less violence and drunkenness.

The government has made some attempts to address underage drinking. Earlier this year, a publicity campaign was introduced to make supermarkets and off-licences more aware of fake ID cards used by under-18s to buy alcohol.

However, experts warn that even success at stopping underage drinkers buying alcohol might not curb the problem. Over-18s, for example, may buy drink for younger friends or sib-lings. The most common source, according to the research, was their parents’ drink supplies.

The government has no official advice for parents on how to introduce their children to drink, although the Home Office hopes to produce some next year. Some parents introduce children to alcohol by giving them watered-down wine or shandy to encourage them to adopt a sensible approach to drinking in moderation.

However, Frank Soodeen of the charity Alcohol Concern warned parents: “If a young boy or girl has been drinking from an age earlier than the rest of their peer group, they are more likely to seek out friends who are engaged in the same behaviour at a friend’s house or in a park.”

Additional reporting: Chris Gourlay

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