UNDERAGE DRINKING
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Age of onset |
7% drank regularly before 13 |
19% drank before 13 |
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Use in Past 30 days |
29% |
38% |
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Perception of Risk or Harm |
34% believe there is "great risk" for people who have one or more drinks nearly every day |
33% believe that there is no harm in taking one or more drinks daily |
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Perception of disapproval of use by peers and adults |
71% parents would think is was "very wrong" for someone their age to us alcohol |
80% believe that their parents would feel it is wrong for them to drink |
Underage drinkers account for nearly 20 percent of the
alcohol consumed in the United States each year.
Alcohol is the #1 youth drug problem (SAMHSA, 2003); it
kills more people under 21 than all other illicit drugs
combined. (Grunbaum, 2002)
The same amount of alcohol is in a 12-ounce bottle of beer,
a 12-ounce wine cooler, and a 5-ounce glass of
wine.
Almost 23% of 12 to 20 year olds participated in binge
drinking at least once in the past month.
Source: Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services
Administration, 2004
Binge drinking is 4 drinks within an hour for a female, 5
for a male. Females process alcohol differently than males;
smaller amounts of alcohol are more intoxicating for females
regardless of their size. (NHTSA, 2004)
Female college students drink more and have sex more while
on Spring Break trips.
Over a quarter of all rape victims and over 40 percent of
those convicted of rape had been drinking at the time of the
attack. (BJS, 1998 )
You may be alive today because the legal drinking age is 21.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
estimates these laws have saved over 22,000 lives from 1975
to now. (NHTSA, 2004)
Factsheets
for under 18s
We have a range of factsheets aimed at under-18's. These
are designed to compliment our workshop plans, which can be
given out as part of a session or on their own.
Available factsheets
Download any of our four factsheets from the below links.
- Alcohol and its journey through your body
- Alcohol and your emotions
- Alcohol and risk-taking
- Alcohol and unprotected sex
All the information we provide is checked by our Medical Officer so you can rest assured that all the content is accurate and up to date.
Our Factsheets can be used alongside our workshop plans and materials.
The topics we have covered so far were
suggested by professionals working with under-18s. Please
email us if you have any other ideas for subjects areas:
eMail
Source: www.drinkaware.co.uk/talking-to-under-18s/professionals/factsheets?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=print_friendly
Research on
alcohol and young people
There’s a vast amount of research and statistics
out there relating to alcohol. We’ve put together a
guide to the reports we think are key information to know if
you’re working with young people.
Mispredicting happiness across the adult lifespan: implications for the risky health behaviour of young people
A study of over 1000 Northern Ireland
citizens aged over 15 conducted in 2007 found that those who
negatively misjudged happiness in later life, more likely to
be young people, were more likely to binge drink, affecting
young men in particular. The authors felt that their
findings had implications for messaging aimed at young men,
that is, that it should focus on correcting these myths
about decreasing happiness levels and emphasis the positive
impacts of reducing alcohol consumption and other healthy
lifestyle choices.
Go
to website for report
Do Parents
and Best Friends Influence the Normative Increase in
Adolescents’ Alcohol Use at Home and Outside the
Home?
The Netherlands (as well as elsewhere in Europe) tend to
advise parents to socialise their children’s alcohol
use to limit future problems. This research looked at the
impact of parental supervision on Dutch adolescent later
alcohol use both inside and outside the home, as well as the
impact of drinking with a best friend, the drinking
behaviour of parents and siblings, and the links between
these factors on future problem drinking. The results showed
that parental supervision did not appear to have any
moderating effect on adolescent alcohol use outside of the
home, that adolescents who drank within the home (with or
without parents) were more likely to drink outside the home.
The report recommends that that rather than introducing
alcohol use, parents should try to delay it, in and out of
the home, for as long as possible in their adolescent
children. These findings cannot necessarily be easily
related to the UK with its different drinking culture but
are obviously interesting in light of the recent CMO
guidance.
Go
to website for report
Do maternal
parenting practices predict problematic patterns of
adolescent alcohol consumption?
Using data from an Australian longitudinal study of
mothers and their children from pregnancy to age 14, the
authors examined whether problematic adolescent drinking
patterns were linked to maternal parenting when the child
was aged 5. Its main findings show that low maternal control
at age 5 more strongly predicted occasional drinking
patterns at age 14, and that frequent maternal partner
change together with lower control were the circumstances
most heavily linked to problematic drinking patterns in
adolescence. This paper reinforces the role that parents own
behaviour can play in affecting the way their child
interacts with alcohol in the future.
Go
to website for report
Is
it wrong to buy my child alcohol for their holiday?
Find out why you could be unintentionally putting your
children in danger.
This summer UK holiday hotspots like Newquay in Cornwall are preparing for the arrival of an army of young people ready to celebrate the end of their exams. Some will have crates of beer in the car boot, or bottles of vodka in their rucksacks. And some of it will have been bought for them by their parents.
If you’re considering buying your son or daughter booze to take away on a holiday, camping trip or festival – then you’re not alone. Our latest research reveals that one in 10 parents (13%) have done so, with more than half (53%) buying them five or more bottles of spirits.
Vulnerable teenagers
For some parents, sending teenagers and their friends off on holiday with a crate of beer may seem like a good way to help them celebrate. Our research shows that they also believe it’s a way to keep control over their teenagers’ drinking.
One in five (22%) parents we surveyed admitted that they bought booze for their kids to keep tabs on their alcohol consumption. A third (36%) said they’d prefer to give their children alcohol rather than leaving them to get it from an unknown source.
But the truth is that when alcohol is put in inexperienced hands, it can make young people vulnerable to some difficult or dangerous situations. A lot of parents also don't realise that supplying alcohol to a child to consume outside of the home unsupervised is illegal.
Alcohol can create dangerous situations because of the way it lowers inhibitions and affects judgment – your child is more likely to start an argument, have an accident, or forget to use a condom if they’ve been drinking.
Alcohol affects motor skills too. This means that young people who have drunk alcohol to excess are more likely to be involved in accidents. Sometimes these accidents have tragic consequences, like the death of the two teenagers who fell off cliffs in Newquay after they’d been drinking last year.
According to their parents, when drinking alcohol:
- Four out of five (79%) young people have been sick
- One in five (20%) have been involved in an accident
- Nearly one in ten (9%) have been injured
- One in five (21%) have had unprotected sex
- One in twenty (6%) have been in a fight.
A question of trust
According to the Chief Medical Officer for England and Wales, an alcohol-free childhood is best. The official guidelines go on to recommend that 15 to 17-year-olds should only drink when supervised by a parent or other adult, and definitely no more than once a week. The guidelines don't cover supplying alcohol to a child to consume outside of the home without supervison because it is against the law.
You may trust your teenagers to drink a small amount of alcohol around the house when supervised, but sending them off with their own supply can be very different. Even if you trust your teenagers to drink sensibly, that’s no guarantee that others won’t act irresponsibly around them, which could get them into trouble.
Staying safe
Luckily, as a parent there’s plenty you can do to keep your teenagers safe, even when you’re not around. Start by making sure that they feel able to ask you questions about alcohol and can come to you with any problems. The effects of alcohol often turn up in the news, soap operas or films, which can be a good opportunity to discuss drinking with them.
For the facts about alcohol and young people, plus techniques for talking to your kids about the dangers, download our ‘Your kids and alcohol’ guide. Our factsheets on alcohol and young people are also packed with useful information and practical tips designed to help them get clued-up about booze.
Waving your teenagers off on holiday
can be a brilliant feeling. But knowing that they’ll
stay safe while they’re away from home is even better.
Giving your kids the facts about alcohol, and thinking twice
about buying for them, is a great start.
Source: www.drinkaware.co.uk/talking-to-under-18s/parents/parent-dealers?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=print_friendly
Ways
to Have Fun without Drinking
- Go to a late-night diner all dressed up and order fries and a milkshake; it'll hit the spot and you'll get tons of attention!
- Buy a bunch of one-use cameras, pass them around to your friends, and set a goal to use every last picture before the night is through!
- Have a "Cranium" or "Act One" party at someone's house; don't forget to have lots of sodas, chips, and dips. You'll be hungry after all that dancing!
- Host a karaoke party at your house, in a friend's barn, or at a local Elks or Rotary lodge.
- Visit an arcade with your date or with a group, and challenge each other to a game or two.
- Have a dance-off at the local arcade. Couples against couples. It's a blast.
- Ask your local YMCA if you can plan an after-prom basketball tournament. Bring your favorite CDs to play in the background.
- Go to a late night coffee house and relive the evening for hours!
- After prom, gather in a friend's house or backyard, take your shoes off, turn up the music, and really dance! Don't forget to notify neighbors and police of your special event, and don't let guests come and go.
Source:
www.madd.org/under21/0,1056,1168,00.html
Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) Affect on Motor Skills
- At .020 light to moderate drinkers begin to feel some effects.
- At .040 most people begin to feel relaxed.
- At .060 judgment is somewhat impaired, people are less able to make rational decisions about their capabilities (e.g.. driving).
- At .080 there is a definite impairment of muscle coordination and driving skills; this is legal level for intoxication in some states.
- At .10 there is a clear deterioration of reaction time and control; this is legally drunk in most states.
- At .120 vomiting usually occurs. Unless this level is reached slowly or a person has developed a tolerance to alcohol.
- At .150 balance and movement are impaired. This blood-alcohol level means the equivalent of 1/2 pint of whiskey is circulating in the blood stream.
- At .300 many people lose consciousness.
- At .400 most people lose consciousness; some die.
- At .450
breathing stops; this is a fatal dose for most
people
Snippets
Beer accounts for 67% of the alcohol consumption reported in
the US.
Beer consumed by the highest 10 percentile of drinks by volume represents 42% of the reported alcohol consumer in the US
Beer is disproportionately consumed in hazardous amounts (i.e., five or more drinks per occasion) relative to wine and spirits.
Nearly 82% of adults favor an increase of five cents per drink in the tax on beer, wine or liquor to pay for programs to prevent minors from drinking and to increase alcohol treatment programs.
Alcohol excise tax rates have rarely been increased to compensate for the effects of inflation. As a result, "real" tax rates have declined over most of the postwar period. This erosion of real tax rates has contributed to overall declines in real beverage prices over time.
In 1998, the estimated economic cost of alcohol abuse in the US exceeded $184 billion. This cost is equivalent to roughly $683 for every man, woman and child living in the US.
The cost to Americans of underage drinking totals nearly $53 billion, equivalent to $200 for every man, woman and child in the US
Each year, the federal government spends between $900 million and $1 billion on alcohol prevention services for people of all ages, less than 2% of the annual cost of alcohol use by youth alone.
According to the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, federal excise tax
collections for alcoholic beverages totaled more than $8
billion in 2000. Put into perspective, this amounts to just
over 4% of the $184 billion in alcohol-related costs
experienced by the American public.
Fight
the Stigma of Alcohol
April is National Alcohol Awareness Month. Talk with your
kids about the risk.
- Approximately 22% of 8th graders, 41% of 10th graders, and 50% of 12th graders report having consumed alcohol during the past month.
- About 8% of 8th, 23% of 10th, and 32% of 12th graders report having been drunk during the past month.
- About 14% of 8th, 26% of 10th, and 30% of 12th graders report binge drinking during the past two weeks.
- Alcohol is frequently a factor in the three leading causes of death (motor vehicle crashes, homicides, and suicides) for 15 to 24 year olds.
Source:
www.ncadd.org/programs/awareness/alcfacts02.html
R-rated
Movie Viewing, Growth in Sensation Seeking and Alcohol
Initiation: Reciprocal and Moderation Effects
A study of American young people aged 10-14, which
observed them over a 2 year period. It concludes that
watching R-rated (roughly equivalent to a 15 certificate in
the UK) films was associated with an increase in sensation
seeking behaviour among the young people, and increased
their probability of initiating alcohol use. Allowing that
personality can affect sensation seeking, the researchers
showed that watching R-rated films raised the probability of
alcohol initiation among low sensation seeking adolescents
to around the same levels as those of highly exposed-high
sensation seeker adolescents, and that the films had a
lesser effect among those who already had high levels of
sensation seeking. The study is an important contribution to
the literature showing links between media exposure and
alcohol consumption among young people. Go
to website for report
Two of the researchers have also just
recently released a follow up showing restricting R-rated
film among young people makes them substantially less likely
to start drinking than their peers who are allowed to see
such films: Parental
R-Rated Movie Restriction and Early-Onset Alcohol
Use
Alcohol
consumption in sport: The influence of sporting idols,
friends and normative drinking practices
This study looked at university students from two
universities in Australia, some involved with sports, others
not, and examined in part whether depictions of particular
sports stars in the media as heavy drinkers affected the
drinking patterns of young people. The researchers found
that contrary to this, the students perceived sports stars,
even high-profile sports stars, as drinking less than
themselves and their friends. These sports stars may not,
therefore, be the negative role models they are sometimes
held to be. The researchers concluded rather that
(mis)perceptions of drinking norms among peer groups were
more stronger predictors for heavier alcohol use, and among
sportspeople, the after-sport
celebrations/commemorations.
While this study did not specifically
look at under 18s it remains interesting to those working
with young people. It is definitely an area that may need
further research to see if the same can be said of younger
adolescents.
Go
to website for report
Smoking,
drinking and drug use among young people in England
An annual report issued by NHS Information Centre, this
document is an essential tool for keeping track of the
changes in the drinking habits of England’s 11-15 year
olds. Its focus on drugs as well as alcohol provides some
very useful contextual information.
Go
to website for report
Scottish
Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey
(SALSUS)
This series of school surveys is used to monitor and
measure smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in
Scotland. The latest report was completed by over 10,000
pupils aged 13 years old and 15 years old across
Scotland.
Go
to website for report
European School
Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD)
ESPAD is the largest cross-national research project on
adolescent substance use in the world. Around forty
different European countries are part of this project,
enabling professionals to look at use of alcohol in the UK
in context with that of neighbouring countries.
Go
to website for report
Chief Medical
Officer’s Guidance on alcohol use by young people
(2009)
Accompanying the guidance consulted on by the CMO this
year, chapter 5 reviewed the epidemiological evidence on
alcohol and young people, particularly looking at
alcohol’s impact on brain development, and the link
between early use of alcohol and later misuse and alcohol
use disorders.
Go
to website for report
DCSF Use of
Alcohol among Children and Young People (2008)
An extensive qualitative study that sought to understand
attitudes towards and consumption of alcohol among children,
young people and their parents. It also looked at which
factors contributed to a non-drinking attitude and barriers
that exist with relation to stopping drinking or listening
to messages about alcohol. The study applied its findings to
thinking about the appropriate design of alcohol
interventions and messaging, as well as the role of current
communication and advertising campaigns in influencing the
lifestyle choices of families. Go to website for report
(Inactive)
DCSF&
Thomas Coram Research Unit Young People and Alcohol -
Meanings, Practices and Contexts (2009)
Following on from the 2008 study, this study delved
further into the role of alcohol and alcohol misuse in the
lives of young people. This project combined qualitative
studies with young people with three literature reviews on
risk and protective factors , alcohol prevention programmes
and effects of national policies. Go to website for report
(Inactive)
NICE Interventions in schools to prevent and reduce alcohol use among children and young people (2007)
This edition of NICE’s public
health guidance series focuses on the importance of alcohol
education in schools. It makes a number of recommendations
on the most effective methods of interventions as well as
gives some guiding principles and messages to all those
working with young people in relation to alcohol. Go to
website for report
Drug and
Alcohol Findings Individual And Contextual Effects Of School
Adjustment On Adolescent Alcohol Use. (Summary Only)
(2009)
Of particular interest to teachers, this paper looks at
the links between a general school ethos, a pupil’s
engagement with school life, and its positive correlations
with their level of alcohol use. We link to a D&A
Findings summary here- the full text is available only on
payment.
Go
to website for report
Joseph
Rowntree Foundation Alcohol prevention programmes (2009)
A recently released literature review conducted by
Professor Richard Velleman for JRF, it examines the various
existing programmes, both formal and informal, aimed at
reducing or preventing alcohol use among young people. Based
on this evidence it makes recommendations for a how a
universal prevention programme might be delivered. It is
accompanied on the site by another review looking at how
young people develop their attitudes towards alcohol, and
other very interesting papers.
Go
to website for report
Cochrane
Review Primary prevention for alcohol misuse in young
people(2007)
A systematic review of a number of alcohol prevention
programmes, this review is cautious in its evaluation of the
evidence, but has some interesting comments about particular
interventions, including the Strengthening Families
Programme from the US. Go
to website for report
We'd like to thank Andrew Brown from
the Drug
Education Forum for his help
in putting this list together.
Source: www.drinkaware.co.uk/talking-to-under-18s/professionals/research?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=print_friendly
Is
She Drinking?
An estimated 4.5 million tween and teen girls drank alcohol
last year, but most moms say they never knew about it.
Sixteen percent of 13- to 16-year-olds admitted they drink
with friends, while only five percent of moms think their
daughter is drinking, according to a survey of
mother-daughter pairs by the Century Council, a group of
leading alcohol producers. Thirty percent of 16- to
18-year-old girls drank, but just nine percent of the
mothers were aware.
Try exploring
www.girlsanddrinking.org
with your daughter, and start getting real honest about
drinking. When girls and adults share the truth on why and
how they drink, girls get great guidance for better
choices.
Source:
Daughters, May/June, 2006
Sobering
Data On Student DWI Habits
In the March 4 issue of CMAJ, Dr. Edward Adlaf and
colleagues present data from the 2001 Ontario Student Drug
Use Survey, which indicate that 31.9 percent of 1846 Ontario
students surveyed admitted to being a passenger in a car
driven by a drunk driver in 2001.
Source: Canadian
Medical Association Journal,www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8895/361838.html
Drunkenness
Triples College Kids' Auto Injury Risk
It also greatly raises risks for falls, sexual abuse, study
finds.
Source:
www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/525819.html
Keeping
Tabs On Teens May Curb Alcohol Use And Risks
Adolescents whose parents closely monitor their activities
are less likely to use alcohol or to be in risky situations
involving alcohol, suggests new research published in the
American Journal of Health Behavior.
Source:
Center for the Advancement of Health, www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8895/361561.html
Smoking,
Drinking At School May Be Contagious For Teens
Teens are more likely to share smoking and drinking habits
with their peers when they attend schools with a relatively
large number of students who use tobacco or alcohol,
according to a new study.
Source: Center
for the Advancement of Health, www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8895/361560.html
Sign
the MADD "PROMise To Keep It Safe" pledging to remain
alcohol-free on prom night. In return for your responsible
choice, receive a BuzzFree ID to get great prom discounts
and incentives (offers available vary by market).
Source:
www.buzzfreeprom.com/students/students_pledge.html
Students
Pledge Month of Alcohol Abstinence
At Waterville High School in Waterville, Maine, four hundred
students and teachers declared that they would abstain from
alcohol use for the next thirty days.
Source:
www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/communitystories/2006/students-pledge-month-of.html
Calif.
Hearing Targets 'Alcopop' Marketing
Flavored alcoholic malt beverages -- a.k.a. 'alcopops' --
appeal to children and often are packaged to closely
resemble soda, witnesses told a California Senate panel.
Source:
www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2006/calif-hearing-targets.html
N.J.
Parents Advocate for Nickel Tax Increase to Fund
Treatment
The Parents to Parents Coalition (P2P), a group advocating
for New Jersey to raise its alcohol tax by a nickel a drink
to provide more funds for addiction treatment, recently took
its case to Gov. Jon Corzine, the Cherry Hill
Courier-Post reported.
Members of the group -- many of whom have lost children to drug overdoses -- came to Rowan University for a Corzine budget speech. They presented Corzine with one of the glass jugs that they are using to collect nickels as part of the campaign.
The proposed tax increase could raise $10 million for treatment, they said, roughly doubling current state spending.
"I'm tired of burying
people we should be treating," says Joni Whelan, CEO of the
SODAT (Services to Overcome Drug Abuse Among Teenagers)
treatment program.
Source:
www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2006/nj-parents-advocate-for.html
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