Binge Drinking Among High Schoolers

By Crystal Phend
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Jan 02, 2007

ATLANTA, Jan. 2 -- Binge drinking is the most common way that high schoolers consume alcohol and is tied to other risky behaviors, according to a national survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among the more than 15,000 teens surveyed, nearly half reported drinking alcohol in the prior month, and more than 60% of those who drank had binged on five or more drinks, said Jacqueline W. Miller, M.D., of the CDC here, and colleagues.

These "alarming" findings call for stronger interventions to reduce both youth drinking and excessive drinking in the general population, they said in the January issue of Pediatrics.

"Pediatricians and family practice physicians should be aware that most of their high school-aged patients drink alcohol and usually do so to the point of intoxication," they wrote. "Some studies have shown that screening and brief intervention in medical settings may be helpful for youth who screen positive for alcohol problems."

The school-based National Youth Risk Behavior Survey included a nationally representative sample of students in grades nine through 12 at public and private schools. The survey was anonymous, self-administered and voluntary (overall response rate 67%).

The researchers found:

• 44.9% of the students (representing 7.4 million high schoolers) reported drinking alcohol during the prior 30 days,
• 28.8% binge drank (representing 2.6 million students),
• 16.1% drank alcohol but did not binge drink (representing 4.7 million teens), and
• 67.4% of male- and 61.1% of female-current drinkers reported binge drinking.
  

Among binge drinkers across all grade levels, the findings were:

• 68.7% (representing 3.2 million teens) reported doing so at least once in the prior month.
• 73.3% (or 1.8 million) of boys and 63.7% (or 1.4 million) of girls binged on at least two days.
• 28.2% (representing 700,000) and 18.3% (representing 400,000) binged on at least six days.
• 13.6% (or 340,000) and 6.8% (or 150,000), respectively, binge drank on at least 10 days.

While any alcohol consumption was associated with increased health risk behaviors, the association was especially strong for binge drinking.

Compared with students who reported no drinking, the findings were:

• Riding with a drunk driver was 3.5 times (95% confidence interval 2.8 to 4.2) times more common among current drinkers and 10.8 times more likely (95% CI 9.0 to 13.1) among binge drinkers.
• Being sexually active was 2.2 more likely (95% CI 1.9 to 2.6) among drinkers and 5.5 times (95% CI 4.5 to 6.5) more likely among binge drinkers.
• Smoking tobacco was 4.2 times (95% CI 3.3 to 5.3) more likely among drinkers and 18.9-fold (95% CI 15.3 to 23.4) more likely among binge drinkers.
• Being a victim of dating violence was 1.9-fold (95% CI 1.5 to 2.3) and 3.7 times (95% CI 3.0 to 4.5) more likely, respectively.
• Attempting suicide was 2.0-fold (95% CI 1.6 to 2.7) more likely among drinkers and 4.3 times (95% CI 3.5 to 5.4) more likely among binge drinkers.
• Using illegal drugs was 3.2 to 5.9 times more likely among drinkers for various drugs while it was 12.3 to 63.2 times more likely among binge drinkers.

There was a strong dose-response relationship....for more link to Pyschiatric Times.