NATION : Alcohol Use Found to Start Early

Five percent of American children commonly attend drinking parties as early as the sixth grade and the figure increases to 61% by the time they are high school seniors, a survey released today shows.

The study of 50,000 youths, done by the Search Institute of Minneapolis for the Lutheran Brotherhood, said 31% of all students from the sixth through 12th grades frequently go to parties at which their peers drink.

The institute studied what it identified as 10 negative factors and 30 positive factors in overall well-being and found that only 10% of students met what it said were minimal standards.

Among negative factors, the study showed that 58% spent two or more hours a day at home without an adult, 40% watched television at least three hours a day and 7% reported that a parent had a serious problem with alcohol or drugs.