Alcohol Abuse Articles

You may be surprised by some of the teen alcohol abuse statistics, and teen alcohol abuse facts. This article contains information on both teen alcohol abuse statistics and teen alcohol abuse facts. Keep reading for more on teen alcohol abuse statistics and facts.

Teen Alcohol Abuse Statistics and Facts

A 2008 report on teen alcohol abuse statistics and facts from the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reveals that nearly 8% of the population of the United States age 12 and older either abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. Among youths aged 12 - 20, drinking was least frequent in the state of Utah and most common in Vermont. Not only that, but according to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report from March, 2008, underage drinkers, on the days they drank, had nearly twice as many drinks as persons age 21 or older who consumed alcohol.

Underage drinkers most likely to have used alcohol, according to the NSDUH Report of October, 2004, were those whose first use of alcohol occurred before they had reached the age of 15. And this 12 - 20 age group are estimated to have had 142,701 trips to the emergency room that were alcohol related in 2004 and 145,759 in 2005, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) newsletter Issue 1, 2006.

Recent estimates from NSDUH estimate that 11 million youths age 12 - 20 drink, with about 65% being binge drinkers. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has estimated that approximately 90% of alcohol that underage drinkers in the United States consume is in the course of binge drinking.

For those who equate employment with responsibility and maturity, it may be surprising to learn that employment had a positive correlation with drinking: teens who were employed were not likely to show more maturity in the area of alcohol, but rather less. A 2006 NSDUH report disclosed that youths who work are both more likely to have used alcohol as well as more likely to have binged.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminstration (SAMHSA) reports that it is typical for binge drinking to begin at about age 13. Findings are that it often reaches a peak in the college years, at ages 18 - 22 for most students, and then decreases gradually. On college campuses, students who reside in sororities or fraternities drink the most.

Any level of alcohol in their systems makes teens more at risk for being involved in a motor vehicle crash, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). This is particularly noteworthy in light of the fact that about a third of teens in a nationwide 2005 survey reported to have ridden with a driver who had used alcohol within the past month, according to the Center for Disease Control.

In 2006, despite the national laws that make driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or greater, as well as for teens to drive after drinking any alcohol whatsoever, 7,643 drivers of cars and motorcycles, aged 15 - 20, were involved in fatal traffic accidents, with 18 percent having a BAC of .08 or greater, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fact Sheet.

Sources:

• dawninfo.samhsa.gov
• ncadistore.samhsa.gov
• nhtsa.dot.gov
• cdc.gov
• oas.samhsa.gov
• drugabusestatistics.samhsa.gov
• upmc.com
• webmd.com
• udetc.org