Drink study ‘proves teens need teen entertainment’

Research that found Maltese 15-year-olds were the most likely – among their youthful counterparts in 42 countries – to drink alcohol was “proof” that teens were not being kept away from adult entertainment, a veteran psychologist has warned. “Youths that age want to start having more of a social life, yet they find almost nothing on offer. To make matters worse, not much effort is made to keep them from getting in or coming back,” child psychologist Charles Grech told The Sunday Times of Malta. Dr Grech was contacted for his reaction to the findings in the World Health Organisation’s study Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children. The report, conducted globally and published earlier this month, found that Maltese 15-year-olds were the most likely to drink alcohol at least once a week. Nearly a third of the Maltese youths surveyed drank alcohol – double the international average. The Maltese attraction to drinking coincides with the increased freedom of sixth form education, as Maltese youths aged 13 and 11 ranked far lower in the list. In fact, these adolescents, who had just started or were halfway through secondary school, all scored well below the international average. Dr...