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Volume 27, Issue 465	April 17, 2006

UNDERAGE DRINKING 2005: BINGEING MORE THAN BOYS

By Anna C. Spencer

Binge drinking--defined as having five or more drinks on one occasion--is growing at a faster rate among girls than it is among boys, according to a new report on underage drinking in the United States released today by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University. According to the report:

1. Girls are binge drinking more, while boys are bingeing less or increasing their bingeing at a slower rate than their female peers.
2. Twelfth-grade female drinkers and binge drinkers are now more likely to drink distilled spirits than beer (see figure 1).
3. Long-term studies now show a direct link between alcohol advertising and youth drinking. Young people who see and hear more alcohol ads are more likely to drink (and in many cases drink more heavily) then their peers.
4. Every day, 5,400 young people under age 16 take their first drink of alcohol.

The report, which summarizes data from a number of sources, also notes that youth are more likely to drink alcohol than smoke tobacco or use other illegal drugs (see figure 2). In the most recent national household survey, more than 7 million underage youth reported binge drinking at least once in the past 30 days. While youth drink less often than adults, they drink more per occasion. When adults drink, which they do on an average of nine days per month, they consume about three drinks per occasion. In contrast, youth aged 12 to 17 drink an average of five drinks a time, on five days per month.

Underage drinking costs the United States more than $62 billion each year, says the report. In addition, every day three teens die from drinking and driving, and at least six more die from other alcohol-related causes, such as homicide, suicide and drowning. Heavy alcohol use in adolescence may interfere with brain development, causing loss of memory and other skills.

Research has found that the more difficult it is for youth to obtain alcohol, the less likely they are to drink. Policies that reduce youth access to alcohol include beer keg registration, sales to minors, compliance checks and penalties, and commercial and social host liability. But alcohol's appeal to young people is substantial: between 2001 and 2004, the number of television alcohol ads seen by youth aged 12 to 20 increased by more than 30 percent.

 

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© Copyright 2006, State Health Notes