Alcohol - Usage Trends

Usage Trends

"Next to tobacco and caffeine, alcohol is the world's most popular drug," wrote Paul M. Gahlinger in Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse. Peer pressure, depression, and a need to fit in are all factors leading to alcohol use by teens.

Alcoholism Defined

There is a difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholismA disease that results in habitual, uncontrolled alcohol abuse; alcoholism can shorten a person's life by damaging the brain, liver, and heart.. In 1956, the American Medical Association defined alcoholism as a disease. Alcoholism is described as a loss of control over drinking—a preoccupation with drinking despite negative consequences to one's physical, mental, and emotional makeup as well as one's work and family life. Problem drinkers might start out by abusing alcohol occasionally without being addicted to it. However, Kuhn pointed out that "continued exposure to alcohol changes the brain in ways that produce dependence." Therefore, anyone who drinks heavily over a long period of time "will become physically dependent on the drug."

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), about 18 million Americans have alcohol problems. Excessive drinkers are generally defined as: 1) men who consume more than two drinks per day, every day, or more than three drinks at a time; and 2) women who consume more than one drink per day, every day, or more than three drinks at a time. Women used to make up one-third of the problem drinking population, but they are quickly catching up to men in terms of abuse. In general, if a woman and a man consume the same amount of alcohol, the woman will become more intoxicated in a shorter period of time. And because of their physical makeup, women are more likely than men to damage their hearts, livers, and brains due to drinking. An increased risk of breast cancer has also been linked to drinking.

Problem drinkers can be rich or poor, young or old, male or female. They come from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Although anyone can become an alcoholic, a child with an alcoholic parent runs a greater risk of developing the disease of alcoholism than a child of non-alcoholic parents.

Young People and Alcohol

New York Times contributor Howard Markel wrote, "Because the brains of teenagers are still developing, many experts believe they are at greater risk for becoming addicted." According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), young people who begin drinking before the age of thirteen are four times more likely to develop an addiction to alcohol than people who begin drinking at age twenty-one.

Before she can enter the prom, a student is given a breathalyzer test by the schools principal in Grant, Nebraska. All students, faculty, and chaperones had to pass the test before they were allowed into the dance. AP/Wide World Photos.
Before she can enter the prom, a student is given a breathalyzer test by the school's principal in Grant, Nebraska. All students, faculty, and chaperones had to pass the test before they were allowed into the dance. AP/Wide World Photos.

The results of the 2004 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study were released to the public on December 21, 2004. Conducted by the University of Michigan (U of M), the MTF was sponsored by research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Since 1991, U of M has tracked patterns of alcohol and drug use, as well as attitudes toward alcohol and drugs, among students in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades. (Prior to that, from 1975 to 1990, the MTF survey was limited to twelfth graders.)

The 2004 MTF survey results indicate that alcohol use among students in the eighth and tenth grades has fallen each year since 2001. Researchers noted, however, that "drinking and drunkenness did not continue to decline" among twelfth graders in 2004. According to MTF charts for 2003 to 2004, about three in every ten high school seniors reported "being drunk in the past 30 days." The ease with which seniors said they would be able to get the drug held steady, with more than 94 percent of the twelfth graders surveyed saying it would be "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain alcohol. Only 26 percent of twelfth graders disapproved of kids their age "trying one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage." Beer and fruit-flavored alcoholic beverages, such as wine coolers, seemed to be a favorite among middle school and high school drinkers.

The 2004 Monitoring the Future survey also showed that:

  • 44 percent of eighth-grade students, 64 percent of tenth-grade students, and 77 percent of twelfth-grade students admit to having tried alcohol.
  • 20 percent of eighth-grade students, 42 percent of tenth-grade students, and 60 percent of twelfth-grade students report having been drunk from alcohol use at least once.

Binge Drinking

In the late 1990s, "binge drinkingConsuming a lot of alcohol in a short period of time." became an accepted term for a night of heavy drinking or simply for heavy alcohol consumption at one sitting. The NCADD claimed that in 1999 "44 percent of college students reported binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row for males or four or more drinks in a row for females)" at some point in their college years. This does not make them frequent binge drinkers; it means that they have engaged in binge drinking at least once. As of 2002, about one in four students could be classified as a frequent binge drinker. To make matters worse, "59 percent of frequent binge drinkers report driving after drinking," noted Dr. Henry Wechsler, director of the Harvard School of Public Health's College Alcohol Study, in his book Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on College Campuses, written with Bernice Wuethrich.

Alcohol and the Entertainment Industry

Nels Ericson, a writer for the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, pointed out that alcohol is a standard prop in more than 90 percent of America's most popular movie rentals. Television is another media source that bombards youth with pro-drinking messages. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) reported that "the typical American young person will see 100,000 beer commercials before he or she turns 18."

The New York Times reported in 2002 that a link may exist between movie-viewing habits and alcohol usage among teens. A Dartmouth College survey based on information from more than 4,500 fifth through eighth graders in the eastern United States revealed that "teenagers whose parents place no restrictions on their viewing R-rated movies appear much more likely to use tobacco or alcohol." Most of the students interviewed were fourteen years old or younger. By law, moviegoers are supposed to be seventeen or older to view an R-rated film at a theater. Nearly half of the students who saw R-rated films on a regular basis admitted they had tried alcohol, versus only 4 percent of the students who were not allowed to view R-rated films.

Research conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) indicates that some 1,400 college students die each school year in alcohol-related incidents. Another 100,000 became victims of sexual assault after drinking too much.