The health belief that alcohol can lead to accidents was held by most
of the children indicating, perhaps, that education programs have been
effective in this regard. A large percentage of children believed that
alcohol only hurts if you drink too much. In this study, "drinking too
much" was not operationally defined, and an assumption was made that
even young children understand the consequences of overindulging, such
as being drunk, and placing oneself at risk. This, however, could be a
limitation of these data. What is of concern is that young children may
not be getting information that even a little drinking in the very young
can be problematic. For example, formal programs to deter alcohol use
by the young may not be refining the education about alcohol consumption
enough for children to understand that even small amounts of alcohol can
dull reflexes, promote behavioral disinhibition, or deleteriously react with
individuals who may be genetically predisposed to addiction.