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Facts and Information
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Facts About Underage Drinking:

  • In a survey of Americans age 12-17, the average person took their first drink before age 13 (National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1996; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1998).

  • Youth who use alcohol before 15 are four times more likely to be alcohol dependent than adults whose first drink is at the legal age of 21 (Grant & Dawson, Age at Onset of Alcohol Use and its Association with DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence, Journal of Substance Abuse, Volume 9, pages 103-110, 1997).

  • The consequences of underage drinking are a tremendous expense to the U.S. economy and total more than $53 billion per year, by far the most costly of all drug problems (Institute of Medicine, Reducing Underage Drinking - A Collective Responsibility, September 2003.)

  • Alcohol plays a key role in accidents, homicides and suicides, the leading causes of death among youth ((American Academy of Pediatrics, information related to planning and promoting October 1998 Child Health Month, May 1998).

  • Alcohol kills six times more young people than all illicit drugs combined (Healthy Kentuckians 2010, Cabinet for Health Services).

  • Alcohol is linked to as many as two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes of teens and college students (Youth and Alcohol: Dangerous and Deadly Consequences, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, April 1992).

  • Studies reveal that alcohol consumption by adolescents results in brain damage - possibly permanent - and impairs intellectual development (Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Volume 24, Number 2).

  • More than 67% of young people who start drinking before the age of 15 will try an illicit drug. Children who drink are 7.5 times more likely to use any illicit drug, more than 22 times more likely to use marijuana, and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than children who never drank (Cigarettes, Alcohol, Marijuana: Gateways to Illicit Drug Use, Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University, 1994).

  • Of the estimated 5.4 million junior and high school students who have ever consumed five or more drinks in a row, 39% say they drink alone; 58% say they drink when they are upset; 30% say they drink when they are bored; and 37% say they drink to feel high (Office of Inspector General, Youth and Alcohol: A National Survey: Drinking Habits, Access, Attitudes, and Knowledge, Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services; June 1991)..

  • Approximately 88% of 10th graders and 75% of 8th graders report that it's very easy or fairly easy to get alcohol (Johnston LD, O'Malley PM, Bachman JG; National Survey Results on Drug Use from the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1998; Volume I: Secondary School Students, Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse; in preparation).

  • The typical American young person will see 100,000 beer commercials before he or she turns 18 (Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Jam: The Performance Magazine, Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; n.d.).

There's Some Good News About Underage Drinking, Too:

According to the University of Michigan Monitoring the Future Study (sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services), alcohol use among 8th Graders, 10th Graders, and High School Seniors has declined significantly since 2000, indicating progress in the struggle to end underage drinking.

  • 8th Graders -- Percent Who Drank In The Past 30 Days:
    23 percent lower in 2006 than in 2000
    31 percent lower in 2006 than in 1991

  • 10th Graders -- Percent Who Drank In The Past 30 Days:
    18 percent lower in 2006 than in 2000
    21 percent lower in 2006 than in 1991

  • High School Seniors -- Percent Who Drank In The Past 30 Days:
    9 percent lower in 2006 than in 2000
    35 percent lower in 2006 than in 1982
    (This is the lowest level since tracking began in 1975)

Additionally, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Office of Applied Studies, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, both binge drinking and the number of persons aged 12 and older driving under the influence of alcohol have declined:

  • Age 12-20 Alcohol Use
    Statistically significant decline in binge drinking from 19.60% (2004) to 18.80% (2005)

  • In 2005, an estimated 13.0 percent of persons aged 12 or older drove under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year. This percentage has dropped since 2002, when it was 14.2 percent.

Young people and adults alike often rationalize underage drinking by saying, "But, everybody does it…" Well, everybody doesn't, and these children need help and support, too:

  • 83% of 12-17 year-olds do NOT drink at all

  • 90% of 12-17 year-olds do NOT drink 5+ drinks/occasion

  • 98% of 12-17 year-olds are NOT heavy drinkers

Yes, because of the work of NCADD, our Affiliates and many other groups, organizations, families and individuals, we are making progress. But, we all need to work together, there's still a great deal of work to do.

 

Let’s Keep Our Future Growing:
End Underage Drinking.

 

 

 

 






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