Adolescent and Young Adult Drinking : Drinking to Intoxication

by National Institute of Health

(Page 4 of 6)

In many cultures, drinking to intoxication is particularly characteristic of adolescents and young adults, and young males are more likely to drink to intoxication than young females.

According to the ESPAD study, it is not uncommon for students to drink to intoxication, although the prevalence of drunkenness varies considerably across the countries. Thus, in the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as in Austria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, nearly 20 percent or more of students reported having been drunk at least 20 times in their lives, compared with about 5 percent or less of students in most southern European countries and in Belgium and the Netherlands. In other central European and in eastern European countries as well as in the United States, the proportions of students who reported having been drunk at least 20 times were intermediate.

Frequency and Amount of Drinking

The ESPAD study also compared the number of drinking occasions and the amounts consumed per occasion by adolescents in the different countries. These analyses found that in the wine-producing countries, adolescents' alcohol consumption can be characterized as fairly frequent but modest. In the Nordic countries, in contrast, alcohol consumption can be characterized as seldom but to intoxication. In the beer-preferring nations of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, the students drink frequently and to intoxication. However, this is not the case in all beer-preferring countries, demonstrating that drinking habits are not properties of alcoholic beverages and that certain kinds of beverages may be used in different ways. Nevertheless, the prevailing drinking patterns exhibit some relationship with the preferred alcoholic beverages.

Time of Alcohol Consumption

One way to describe drinking patterns is to investigate how alcohol consumption is integrated into everyday activities. In many wine-producing countries, drinking is an integral part of meals. For instance, Italian adults rarely drink between meals. In contrast, in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Nordic countries, most people drink at times other than meals.

The drinking patterns of adolescents and young adults in the various countries mirror those of the adults. Thus, the prevalence of intoxication (which typically results from alcohol consumption outside of meals) was much lower among adolescents in wine-producing European countries than among adolescents in Anglo-Saxon and Nordic countries. In recent years, however, people in Mediterranean countries, especially young people, have begun to consume wine at times other than meals and adolescents in these countries have begun to drink to intoxication more frequently. These observations suggest that moderate, controlled drinking in the wine-producing countries is being replaced by a more irregular pattern of drinking leading to inebriation. Moreover, drunken behavior has become more frequent on festive occasions. Thus, the drinking behavior of adolescents from wine-producing countries is beginning to resemble the behavior of adolescents from countries such as Denmark, Finland, and the United Kingdom.

Consequences of Drinking

Most alcohol-related problems that affect young people do not result from chronic heavy drinking but from occasional heavy drinking and intoxication. Only a minority of young adults - most of them men - drink heavily on a regular basis, thereby increasing their risk of encountering health problems typically associated with chronic alcohol consumption. However, even young people (including the majority of young women) who generally drink in moderation may occasionally drink heavily, thereby increasing their risk for certain adverse effects. For example, alcohol interferes with cognitive, perceptual, and motor skills and therefore can contribute to unintentional injuries and deaths, particularly after heavy alcohol consumption. In fact, in many societies, alcohol-related fatalities are particularly common among young adults and contribute substantially to alcohol-related mortality. This particularly high mortality rate is attributable in part to the drinking patterns of young adults (i.e., drinking heavily or to intoxication) and in part to their lack of experience with and tolerance for alcohol, which may make them more likely, for example, to be involved in alcohol-related traffic crashes than more experienced drinkers.

In the established market economies of Europe, the proportion of alcohol-related deaths is higher among young men than among young women. Among 15- to 29-year-olds, 12.8 percent of all deaths among males and 8.3 percent of all deaths among females have been estimated to be attributable to alcohol, indicating that alcohol-related deaths account for a considerable amount of mortality in young Europeans. Traffic crashes are the main cause of alcohol-related deaths for both genders, followed by self-inflicted injuries; alcohol-related chronic diseases are not common causes of death in this age group. Both the average volume of alcohol consumption and patterns of drinking influence the rate of alcohol-related deaths.

Young adults are susceptible not only to alcohol-related health problems (i.e., deaths and injuries) but also to alcohol-related social problems. In fact, for any given level of drinking, young adults report more social problems than do middle-aged adults. These alcohol-related social problems include problems with family, friends, and at work; financial difficulties; legal problems, such as property damage, public disturbance, violence, or sexual assault; and other risk-taking behavior. The probability of young people suffering such social consequences increases with their level of drinking.

About the Author

NIH is the nation's medical research agency - making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.