Alcohol Use - Youth

Alcohol Use - Youth in Oregon

Oregon

Alcohol is the most commonly used substance among youth in the U.S. Each year, 3,900 youth under 21 die from excessive drinking. In 2014, more than 57,000 alcohol-related emergency department visits were among people ages 12-17. Other risks associated with underage drinking include:

• Legal issues due to behavior like driving under the influence or fighting while drunk.
• Academic issues, such as increasing absences and failing grades.
• Depression, ADHD and other mental illnesses.
• Impaired judgment, which can lead to engaging in risky behaviors, such as violence or unprotected sex.
• An increased risk of developing an alcohol-use disorder later in life.

Adolescence is a high-risk period for binge drinking. Most alcohol consumption among underage drinkers occurs in binge episodes (4 to 5 drinks per drinking episode). Binge drinking is linked to decreased cognitive functioning, specific to adolescents’ vulnerability to the effects of alcohol as well as alcohol poisoning and fatal accidents. Underage binge drinking also increases the risk of physical and sexual assault.

The economic cost of underage drinking was $24.3 billion in 2010.

The prevalence of alcohol use is higher among:

• Girls compared with boys.
• Non-Hispanic white and Hispanic youth than non-Hispanic Black youth.
• Lesbian, gay or bisexual students than students who identify as heterosexual.
• Older youth ages 16-17 than younger youth.

Strategies to prevent excessive drinking, including alcohol use among youth, include:

• Increasing alcohol taxes.
• Regulating and restricting the number and concentration of alcohol stores. 
• Enforcing the law against selling alcohol to youth.
• Implementing commercial host-liability laws, which hold liquor establishments legally responsible for harm caused by or to minors to whom they have sold alcohol.
• Reducing exposure to alcohol advertising.
• Developing community partnerships among schools, law enforcement, health care and public health agencies to prevent excessive alcohol use.

Parents have a strong influence on a child’s attitude toward alcohol. Communicating the dangers of alcohol with children, setting a good example and deglamorizing alcohol can help children make good decisions about alcohol. Parents should monitor the alcohol supply in their homes and ensure children can’t access it without permission.

The Community Guide provides additional evidence-based strategies to prevent and reduce excessive alcohol use among youth.

Healthy People 2030 has a goal to reduce the number of adolescents ages 12-17 who reported drinking alcohol in the past month.

Bitsko, Rebecca H., Angelika H. Claussen, Jesse Lichstein, Lindsey I. Black, Sherry Everett Jones, Melissa L. Danielson, Jennifer M. Hoenig, et al. 2022. “Mental Health Surveillance Among Children — United States, 2013–2019.” MMWR Supplements 71 (2): 1–42. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7102a1.

Jones, Christopher M., Heather B. Clayton, Nicholas P. Deputy, Douglas R. Roehler, Jean Y. Ko, Marissa B. Esser, Kathryn A. Brookmeyer, and Marci Feldman Hertz. 2020. “Prescription Opioid Misuse and Use of Alcohol and Other Substances Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2019.” MMWR Supplements 69 (1): 38–46. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su6901a5.

Lees, Briana, Lindsay R. Meredith, Anna E. Kirkland, Brittany E. Bryant, and Lindsay M. Squeglia. 2020. “Effect of Alcohol Use on the Adolescent Brain and Behavior.” Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 192 (May): 172906. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2020.172906.

Sacks, Jeffrey J., Katherine R. Gonzales, Ellen E. Bouchery, Laura E. Tomedi, and Robert D. Brewer. 2015. “2010 National and State Costs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 49 (5): e73–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.05.031.

White, Aaron M., Megan E. Slater, Grace Ng, Ralph Hingson, and Rosalind Breslow. 2018. “Trends in Alcohol-Related Emergency Department Visits in the United States: Results from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, 2006 to 2014.” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 42 (2): 352–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13559.