Fewer children under age 13 are experimenting with alcohol, according to a study from the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse.

Fox News reported May 30 that a review of past research found that drinking among preteens has declined since the 1970s; in 2003, about 13 percent of 12-year-olds reported having already had their first drink. However, noted researcher Vivian Faden, Ph.D., there is a high-risk group of children who drink before their 10th birthday who "should be identified and intervened with early."

Faden said that ages 13-14 are the peak years for having a first drink; the adoption of the age-21 drinking law in the 1980s helped blunt a previous trend towards earlier drinking initiation. Some young drinkers may have had alcohol as part of a religious ceremony or family dinner, but the studies did not separate those data out.

The study appears in the June 2006 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.