By David Backes, January 03 2013
SAMHSA’s recent Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking 2012 shows positive impact on the reduction of underage drinking. Via the report,
From 2004 to 2010, young people ages 12 to 20 showed statistically significant declines in both past-month alcohol use and binge alcohol use. These encouraging results were most significant in the 12- to 17-year-old age group, where past-month alcohol use declined by 22.7 percent and past-month binge drinking declined by 29.7 percent.
The news isn’t all good though--in 2010, 37 percent of 20-year-olds reported binge drinking (drinking at levels substantially increasing the risk of injury or death) in the past 30 days; about 14 percent of 20-year-olds had, in those 30 days, binged five or more times.
Additional takeaways from the report include:
- Alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among american youth
- Binge drinking is the most common underage consumption pattern.
- Female youth drinking rates are converging with male youth rates
- Adolescents’ beverage preferences are shifting from beer to distilled spirits
- Young people perceive alcohol to be readily available
The full report is available online as a .DOC download, and individual state-specific sections are also available:
David Backes writes the Friday news roundup for Reclaiming Futures and contributes articles about juvenile justice reform and adolescent substance abuse treatment to ReclaimingFutures.org. He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Santa Clara University. David works as an account executive for Prichard Communications.
Updated: February 08 2018