Teens expect autumn-break drinking more than parents do

Nearly half of teenagers expect to drink alcohol during the autumn school break, while only 22 per cent of parents think their own child will do so, according to a new survey reported by SVT.

Systembolaget, Sweden’s state-owned alcohol retailer, commissioned Demoskop to interview 641 teenagers aged 15 to 19 and 1,024 parents of teenagers aged 13 to 19. The survey found that 49 per cent of teenagers associate Halloween, which falls during the break, with drinking.

Among teenagers who have drunk alcohol, half said they had done so during the autumn break or Halloween. The summer break was the most commonly reported occasion, at 71 per cent, followed by Walpurgis Night at 61 per cent and New Year’s Eve at 59 per cent.

While most parents in the survey believe teenage drinking is common during this period, many teenagers think they can drink without their parents noticing: 64 per cent said this was possible, compared with 37 per cent of parents who thought they might not find out.

Fifteen per cent of parents said they might buy alcohol for their teenager if asked before a party. The most common reasons were to prevent the teenager from buying it from an illegal seller or to control what and how much they drank.