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I. Underage Drinking in the United States - 2. Characteristics of Underage Drinking
Pages 33-57

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From page 35...
... . PATTERNS AND TRENDS Despite minimum legal drinking age laws, actual drinking patterns in the United States suggest that almost all young people use alcohol before they are 21.
From page 36...
... Terminology Multiple data sources -- including the NHSDA, (now called the National Survey on Drug Use and Health) , the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, and MTF -- collect extensive information on the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed (see Chapter 12 for additional discussion of these sur
From page 37...
... Although there have been modest reductions in the 30-day and annual prevalence rates for the past 5 years, current rates are not significantly different than they were in 1993, and they remain high. Nearly half (48.6 1Unless cited otherwise, reported NHSDA data are based either on a paper commissioned by the committee (Flewelling et al., 2004)
From page 38...
... Recent studies also suggest that gender and some racial and ethnic differences are diminishing and that these groups with historically low drinking rates are moving toward the higher rates of non-Hispanic white males. Finally, while college surveys have indicated a decrease in overall drinking on college campuses over the past decade, there has been little change in heavy drinking (Wechsler et al., 2002a)
From page 39...
... With increasing age, more youth drink and more drinkers are heavy drinkers. By the ages of 18 to 20, the rate of any alcohol use in the last 30 days is identical with the rate for adults over 26, but among those who drink, the proportion of 18- to 20year-olds who drink heavily is significantly higher than that of adults over 26.
From page 40...
... How Youth Drink Looking at data for youths, rather than just those who are drinkers, reveals similar patterns to those discussed above (see Figure 2-4) : any recent use and heavy use progressively increases as youths approach the legal drinking age.
From page 41...
... , African Americans (10.3 percent) , and Asian Americans (7.9 percent)
From page 42...
... increases and remains higher than that of underage drinkers until the age of 55. After their early 20s, adults begin to drink in a far more moderate manner than underage drinkers (SAMHSA, 2003)
From page 43...
... Again, the evidence shows that adults tend to drink fewer drinks per occasion than young people. To examine differences more closely, the committee analyzed the same data by the number of days that current drinkers reported drinking heavily in the past month for different age groups (see Table 2-5)
From page 44...
... . Multiple studies have indicated that the most likely individuals to report participation in heavy drinking are white, male, fraternity members, under the age of 24, involved in athletics, who do not hold strong religious beliefs and have a tendency to socialize a great deal (for example, cf.
From page 45...
... . The first 6 weeks of the school year have been cited as the most dangerous with respect to drinking behavior due to the increased stress levels associated with a new environment and the pressure to be accepted by a peer group (Prendergast, 1994; Werch et al., 2000; Carlson et al., 2001)
From page 46...
... 46 65+ Use 60-64 Heavy 55-59 Frequent, 50-54 45-49 heavy) 40-44 35-39 frequent, not 30-34 Age (but Use 26-29 3.1)
From page 47...
... Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Cook and Moore (2001) found that being in school actually reduced drinking and heavy drinking.
From page 48...
... Ethnic minorities consistently have lower rates of alcohol use than nonHispanic whites, although it is unclear whether reporting bias contributes to these differences. Trend analysis of data from the Alcohol Research Group's National Alcohol Surveys showed that while rates of heavy drinking among 18- to 29-year-olds dropped between 1984 and 1995, rates among African American males remained the same (Caetano and Clark, 1998)
From page 49...
... In general, the differences between girls and boys is greater for heavy drinking than for recent use: for example, non-Hispanic white males aged 18 to 20 have a 13 percent higher prevalence for heavy drinking than nonHispanic white females, compared to a 5.9 difference for any recent use. Similar patterns are observed in Hispanics and African Americans -- Hispanic males have a 14.9 percent higher prevalence and African American males have an 8.6 percent higher prevalence for heavy drinking compared to their female counterparts.
From page 50...
... 50 group: age Hispanic Age and of African Years American ethnicity, 18-20 or race White gender, by Hispanic Age of 20-year-olds, African Years to American 12 15-17 for White days 30 past 2)
From page 51...
... 51 group: Hispanic age Age of and African Years American ethnicity, 18-20 or race White gender, by Hispanic Age of 20-year-olds, African Years American to 12 15-17 for White days 30 past the 3)
From page 52...
... report similar rates of past month use as some Latino subgroups (Central or South American, 22.3 percent; Cuban, 22.3 percent) and African American youth (18.5 percent)
From page 53...
... who were current drinkers, and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey to estimate the proportion of adults who were current drinkers. These estimated participation rates were then combined with the NHSDA data on average drinks per current drinker to estimate the total amounts of alcohol consumed by youths and adults.
From page 54...
... The more straightforward procedure of using the NHSDA data for estimating not only average quantity of drinks per drinker, but also the participation rates, produces an estimate of 10.8 percent for 2000.4 Based on their preferred quantity estimates, the researchers then estimate the expenditures made by underage drinkers for beer, spirits, and wine. They conclude that underage drinkers spent $22.5 billion, representing 19.4 percent of total consumer expenditures for alcohol (slightly lower than the proportion of consumption because youths are more likely to consume beer, a lower priced beverage)
From page 55...
... For example, survey data from high school seniors in Minnesota indicate that 38 percent of drinkers reported drinking in their own home, 83 percent drinking at another person's home, 22 percent in a bar or restaurant, 46 percent outdoors, 7 percent at work, and 41 percent in a moving car or vehicle (Lee et al., 1997)
From page 56...
... , parties and outdoor venues were the most frequently reported drinking locations during the past year followed by cars (Walker et al., 2001)
From page 57...
... CHARACTERISTICS OF UNDERAGE DRINKING 57 TABLE 2-7 Alcohol Consumption by Specific Locations, by Age, in California Location Age Group Party Bar Restaurant Outdoors Car 15 75.8 9.7 19.4 56.5 38.7 16-17 80.8 17.2 20.2 54.5 32.8 18-20 85.7 45.3 30.1 53.0 31.0 SOURCE: Walker et al.


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