Parents seen drunk by half of children

The study by CBBC's Newsround discovered nearly three-quarters of the children questioned (72 per cent) said their parents drink alcohol and of those, seven out of 10 (70 per cent) thought they had seen them drunk.

Just less than half of the children (46 per cent) surveyed thought that adults should not drink in front of children, while 32 per cent thought this was all right, and 22 per cent were not sure.

When given a list of words to describe how they felt when they saw adults drinking, almost half the children (47 per cent) said they were not bothered. But 30 per cent said it made them feel scared.

Eight in 10 children (81 per cent) surveyed who had seen adults drinking said they noticed one or more changes in the way they behaved.

Of those, almost a quarter said it made adults act stupid or silly; a fifth said they became angry and aggressive; another fifth said they became happy and funny; 19 per cent found them to act strangely or in a different way; 18 per cent said they became loud and swore; and 17 per cent said they became dizzy or fell over.

The results will be revealed today on CBBC's Newsround on BBC1 as part of a wider exploration of the issue of alcohol and how adults' drinking affects children's lives.

Damian Kavanagh, Controller of CBBC, said: "Newsround has a great track record in covering complex issues in an engaging and helpful way. There has been much discussion about levels of drinking but the social impact is rarely explored from a child's point of view.

"Alcohol is present in the lives of most of our audience in one way or another, yet it is something they may not feel confident talking about."

The findings come as Ministers assess a number of options to tackle the issue of supermarkets selling cut-price alcohol which some campaigners have warned has led to an increase in binge drinking.