Sex differences in young children’s perceptions of situational drinking norms over time.

Men and Women’s Alcohol Consumption by 4- to 8-Year-Olds: A Longitudinal Investigation of Gendered Drinking Norms

“…The absence of spirits (i.e., whisky), liqueurs, and premixed drinks from the beverages available restricted the inferences made, and future iterations of the task should look to include other beverage types. Previous research has also shown the importance of situational drinking norms which were not considered here [13, 18, 23]. However, taken together with previous studies, these results confirm the salience of gender in determining consumption over and above situational or environmental indicators [18].…”

“…1). This large longitudinal dataset has previously allowed researchers to demonstrate young children’s perceptions of situation-specific [13], and beverage-specific situational drinking norms [23], and sex differences in children’s knowledge of situational drinking norms [18]. Previous validation analyses have also shown that children can correctly name and differentiate between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages [13].…”

Effects of exposure to mother's and father's alcohol use on young children's normative perceptions of alcohol

“…While this is the first time these results have been demonstrated for children this young in the academic literature, they may not be entirely unexpected for parents who have been shown to be aware (to some extent) of their role in teaching and modeling alcohol practices to their children (Cook, Kuntsche, & Pennay, 2021). Parents are also consumers of alcohol in their own right, who value alcohol and drinking as a form of relaxation and "time out" away from being a parent (Cook, Kuntsche, & Pennay 2021;Cook, Pennay, et al, 2022;Emslie et al, 2012). Thus, in thinking about the translation of these results into prevention or health policy, efforts need to be made to inform parents and carers about the association between parental alcohol exposure and children's alcohol-related cognitions from young age, particularly the fine-grained nature of this knowledge (see for example Drinken & Drinken, 2020).…”

“…The effects of this exposure long term and especially when these children begin to drink is of interest for future studies. Finally, these findings add to the growing evidence base of young children's perceptions, knowledge, and awareness of alcohol well before they first consume (Cook, Smit, et al, 2022;Dalton et al, 2005;Kuntsche et al, 2016), all of which have implications for future alcohol use (Zucker et al, 2008).…”

“…Thus, in thinking about the translation of these results into prevention or health policy, efforts need to be made to inform parents and carers about the association between parental alcohol exposure and children's alcohol-related cognitions from young age, particularly the fine-grained nature of this knowledge (see for example Drinken & Drinken, 2020). However, it would also be important to keep in mind the complex lived experiences of parents and the roles alcohol plays in their lives to ensure efforts are not just admonishing parents (i.e., making them feel worse) and thus risking making them less receptive to prevention efforts (Cook, Pennay, et al, 2022;Jayne et al, 2012;Spencer, 2013). The category "females" was broken down into "mothers and "other females" including female friends and grandmothers and the category "males" was broken down into "fathers" and "other males" including male friends and grandfathers, to examine whether attributions to one role were driving the attributions for the gender found.…”