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The Facts About Underage Drinking
What is Social Host? | Underage Drinking Parties | Liability | Parent Tips | FAQs
Research reveals that underage drinking, particularly at parties, continues to be a serious problem in our communities. In a 2007 survey of parents and teenagers about underage drinking in the Silicon Valley in California, participants responded in the following ways:
Parents
- 100 percent said it is not OK for teens to drink when parents aren’t home.
- 86 percent believed teens take alcohol from homes without parents knowing.
- 46 percent didn’t know what their liability would be if someone else’s child were found drinking in their home.
.aspx) Students
- 92 percent of those who drink said it was very easy to get alcohol.
- 88 percent of those who drink said they drink at someone else’s home.
- 35 percent said they have attended a party at which students drank.
- 83 percent believed the typical student has attended a party at which students were drinking.
The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation notes that underage drinking parties “can be particularly problematic because of the number of drinkers involved and the large quantities of alcohol consumed. Reports of alcohol poisonings, traffic crashes, property damage, community disturbance, violence and sexual assault are all too common as a result of these parties.”1
Consider the Consequences
While many adults may dismiss underage drinking as a normal “right of passage,” they must consider that underage alcohol use can have immediate and potentially tragic consequences, as well as long-range harmful consequences. Youth under the age of 21 who consume alcohol are at greater risk of:
- Criminal behavior2
- Injury2
- Risky sexual behavior3
- Brain damage4
- Chronic alcohol addiction5
- Poor school performance3
- Being involved in a fatal car accident3
- Suicide3
A 2003 report published by the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine documents the wide ranging and devastating consequences of youth consumption of alcohol, and estimates its annual social cost of at least $53 billion. The report urged states and localities to enact a comprehensive set of strategies to reduce underage alcohol consumption – including strengthening social host liability laws affecting youth under 21.
1A Practical Guide to Preventing and Dispersing Underage Drinking Parties, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
2Hengson and Kenkel 2004
3Hengson and Kenkel 2004; NHTSA 2002; Brown and Tapert 2004: Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility, pp. 40-58.
4 Brown and Tapert 2004: Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility, pp. 40-58.
5 Grant and Dawson 1997
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