Factors Affecting Drinking by Adolescents and Young Adults, Part 2

by National Institute of Health

(Page 6 of 6)

Alcohol taxation and high alcohol prices as well as strict regulation of physical alcohol availability (i.e., sale of alcoholic beverages only in limited locations or at certain times) are powerful policy tools for controlling alcohol consumption. Although such measures affect the entire population, some studies have found that high alcohol prices particularly affect adolescents and young adults, who in many societies have fewer economic resources than older adults.

Evidence also suggests that the amount of money available to people influences the frequency of drinking. For example, Rahkonen and Ahlström analyzed trends in drinking habits among Finnish adolescents between 1973 and 1987. They found that drinking frequency decreased at the beginning of the 1980s but then began to increase by 1983. This rise was explained by increased alcohol availability and by an increase in money available to adolescents for their leisure time activities. Similar results were obtained in a later study among Finnish students.

To assess the effectiveness of measures restricting alcohol availability in limiting alcohol consumption by adolescents, Grossman and colleagues compared the effects of alcohol pricing policies and changes in MLDA. These investigators demonstrated that both types of measures impacted alcohol use and mortality from alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, although higher taxes on alcohol were more effective at reducing adolescent drinking than implementation of a uniform MLDA of 21.

Summary

Alcohol consumption is a social behavior, something people learn from and practice with other members of their culture. Consequently, the drinking behavior of adolescents and young adults in any country or culture is related to the drinking behavior of the whole population. International studies have demonstrated that adult drinking patterns vary greatly among different countries and cultures over time and between different population groups within a given country. Speaking very generally, the frequency and amount of alcohol consumption are highest in Europe, North America, and other countries with established market economies; lower in Africa and Asia; and particularly low in the Muslim countries of the eastern Mediterranean region and the Indian subcontinent. In recent decades, alcohol consumption has decreased especially in southern Europe and increased in Asia.

Despite its similarities to adult drinking, alcohol consumption by adolescents and young adults has some special characteristics because the way of life and living conditions of 14- to 25-year-olds in any culture differ somewhat from those of older adults. For example, the mass media (particularly the advertising industry), the Internet, and international youth cultures also affect the drinking patterns of adolescents and young adults.

One difference between adolescent/young adult drinking patterns and adult drinking patterns concerns gender differences. In almost all cultures, men abstain less frequently than women and drink more frequently and in greater quantities than women. Among adolescents and young adults, especially at the onset of adolescence, however, these gender differences are less prominent or do not exist at all. Moreover, in many cultures, drinking to intoxication is more characteristic of adolescent and young adult drinking than of drinking by older adults. Finally, most of the alcohol-related problems that affect adolescents result from periodic heavy drinking and intoxication rather than from chronic alcohol consumption, because relatively few adolescents drink heavily on a regular basis. In contrast, older adults more frequently experience the adverse health effects (e.g., liver disease) that result from long-term alcohol consumption.

Because most of the information researchers have acquired about the drinking patterns of adolescents and young adults is based on data obtained in European and North American countries, global comparisons of drinking patterns are difficult to make. In addition, less information is available on young adults than on adolescents, who, through school-based surveys, can be accessed more easily. To address these limitations and to allow for truly global and reliable comparisons of drinking patterns in adolescents and young adults, future studies should focus more on regions outside North America and Europe. Such analyses also could reveal characteristic patterns in the factors affecting adolescent and young adult drinking behavior. Finally, studies following participants over time are needed to better evaluate the findings of one-time cross-sectional studies.

The generalizability of existing research on the effects of alcohol pricing on adolescent and young adult drinking is limited because most of these studies have been conducted in the United States. Recent price decreases in Europe, especially in the Nordic countries, however, will provide researchers with an opportunity to study whether changes in price particularly affect alcohol consumption by adolescents and young adults in other countries as well.

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.