IDENTIFICATION OF ALCOHOL BY SMELL AMONG YOUNG-CHILDREN - AN OBJECTIVE-MEASURE OF EARLY LEARNING IN THE HOME

Familiarity with alcoholic bevarages was assessed by means of a modifi ed version of Jahoda and Cramond's 'Recognition of Smells' task (Jahod a, G. and Cramond, J. (1972) Children and Alcohol, HMSO, London). Two hundred and thirty-eight Scottish and English children aged 5.5-6.5, 7 .5-8.5 and 9.5-10.5 years participated. When verbal identification was aided by pictorial cues, almost 95% of the sample identified at least one of the alcoholic beverages. Moreover, alcoholic beverages were id entified significantly more often than non-alcoholic substances. The r esults highlight the early age at which awareness of alcohol begins, a nd emphasis the importance of children's home-based learning experienc es in the development of alcohol cognitions. Both have important impli cations for alcohol education.