Alcohol and Development in Youth : Students, Military

by National Institute of Health

(Page 4 of 5)

College Students

College students are a highly visible group of underage drinkers among whom alcohol consumption is commonplace. Indeed, many college students accept alcohol use as a normal part of student life. Studies consistently indicate that about four in five college students drink alcohol; about two in five engage in episodic heavy consumption, often called bingeing (five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more in a row for women; generally asked with respect to the past 2 weeks or past 30 days, depending on the survey); and about one in five engages in frequent episodic heavy consumption (bingeing three or more times in the past 2 weeks).

The consequences of drinking among college students include academic problems, social problems, legal problems, involvement in physical and/or sexual assault or risky sex, and even death. An estimated 1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries including motor vehicle crashes. Another 599,000 students are unintentionally injured while under the influence of alcohol, 696,000 are assaulted by other students who have been drinking, and 97,000 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape. A striking number of college students also report having experienced alcohol-induced memory blackouts. One recent study indicated that among nonabstaining college students, 40 percent reported experiencing a blackout within the past year, and 9.4 percent reported having a blackout within the past 2 weeks. This could relate to students' tendency to be unaware of standard drink volumes and to overpour drinks, thus underestimating their consumption. It is not known if younger drinkers are more susceptible to the memory-impairing effects of alcohol, but one study in humans showed that a dose of alcohol resulting in a BAC in the range of 80 mg/dl significantly disrupted learning in people in their early twenties but had little effect on people in their late twenties.

Drinking in college varies from campus to campus and from person to person. Levels and patterns of consumption are associated with individual, intracampus, and intercampus factors. For example, athletes and members of fraternities and sororities are among the heaviest drinkers on most campuses, and students in the Northeast and on campuses where athletics and Greek organizations are prominent tend to drink more than their counterparts at other institutions.

Underage and Youthful Drinking Among Military Personnel

The Department of Defense conducts periodic surveys to assess alcohol use and other health-related behaviors among military personnel. Approximately 193,000 of 1.4 million active duty military personnel are between the ages of 17 and 20. These surveys, therefore, provide important information about underage drinking in an important subset of young people. According to the 2002 DOD survey (the most recent one for which results have been released): 33.3 percent of military personnel age 20 and younger are "abstainers" (drink once a year or less). 15.7 percent are "infrequent/light" drinkers (one to four drinks per typical occasion, one to three times per month). 10.4 percent are "moderate" drinkers (one drink per typical drinking occasion at least once a week, or two to four drinks per typical drinking occasion two to three times per month, or five or more drinks per typical drinking occasion once a month or less). 14.4 percent are "moderate/heavy" drinkers (two to four drinks per typical drinking occasion at least once a week or five or more drinks per typical drinking occasion two to three times per month). 6.1 percent are "heavy" drinkers (five or more drinks per typical drinking occasion at least once a week).

A comparison of data from the 2002 DOD survey with data from the 2001 NHSDA (in which heavy alcohol use is defined as five or more drinks on one occasion on 5 or more days in the past 30 days) indicates that rates of heavy drinking among 18- to 25-year-olds in the military are higher than for civilians of the same age (32.2 percent vs. 17.8 percent for men and 8.1 percent vs. 5.5 percent for women).

The surveys conducted by the DOD also indicate that substantial numbers of youth in the military experience negative consequences from drinking. The 2002 data show that, during the 12 months prior to the survey, more than one-fifth of the most junior enlisted personnel (who typically are between the ages of 17 and 20) experienced serious consequences as a result of drinking or a drinking-related illness, including military punishment, alcohol-related arrest, and the need for detoxification, and that more than one-fourth experienced a productivity loss because of alcohol use. DOD investigators classified more than one-fifth of survey participants as alcohol "dependent" based on the number of days during the previous 12 months that they reported 1. withdrawal symptoms, 2. inability to recall things that happened while drinking, 3. inability to stop drinking before becoming drunk, or 4. morning drinking.

Minority Youth

According to national surveys, there is considerable variation between Whites and ethnic/racial minorities with respect to alcohol consumption. Minority youth generally start drinking at older ages than their White non-Hispanic counterparts. A greater difference also exists in levels of drinking between male and female minority youth and a greater percentage of minority youth abstain or drink very little. Although a "typical" pattern of underage drinking could never be attributed to any specific minority group, it is useful to compare minority groups to identify potential risk and protective factors that may be operating to produce some of the observed differences in drinking practices. With a burgeoning minority population, it is also essential to better understand these factors to help design and implement the most effective prevention and intervention programs.

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.