Statistics
In 2007, the average age at first alcohol use among recent initiates aged 12 to 49 was 16.8 years, similar to the corresponding 2006 estimate (16.6 years).
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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2008). Results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-34, DHHS Publication No. SMA 08-4343). Rockville, MD. http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k7nsduh/2k7Results.pdf
On average someone is killed by a drunk driver every 45 minutes. In 2008, an estimated 11,773 people died in drunk driving related crashes—a decline of 9.8 percent from the 13,041 drunk driving related fatalities of 2007.
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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Traffic Safety Facts 2007 Data:Alcohol Impaired Driving” DOT 810 985. Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2008. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810985.PDF
Among youths aged 12 to 17 in 2007, whites had higher rates of current alcohol use than any other racial/ethnic group. In 2007, 18.2 percent of white youths were current drinkers, while 8.1 percent of Asian youths, 10.1 percent of black youths, 12.5 percent of those reporting two or more races, and 15.2 percent of Hispanic youths used alcohol in the past month.
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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2008). Results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-34, DHHS Publication No. SMA 08-4343). Rockville, MD. http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k7nsduh/2k7Results.pdf
An early age of drinking onset is associated with alcohol-related violence not only among persons under age 21 but among adults as well.
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Hingson, Ralph, Timothy Heeren, and Rhonda Zakocs. “Age of Drinking Onset and Involvement in Physical Fights after Drinking.” Pediatrics. 2001 Oct; 108(4):872-7.
Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combined.
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Grunbaum, J.A., et al. "Youth risk behavior surveillance: United States, 2001." MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report51(SS0 4):1–62, 2002.
Young, S.E., et al. "Substance Use, Abuse and Dependence in Adolescence: Prevalence, Symptom Profiles and Correlates". Drug and Alcohol Dependence68(3):309–322, 2002.
The total cost attributable to the consequences of underage drinking was $61.9 billion per year in 2001 dollars. This is $5.4 billion in medical costs, $14.9 billion in work loss and other resource costs, and $41.6 billion in lost quality of life.
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Miller, Ted R. et al. “Societal Costs of Underage Drinking.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 2006 Jul; 67(4):519-28.
In 2007, the U.S. Surgeon General estimates that approximately 5,000 persons under age 21 die from alcohol-related injuries involving underage drinking each year.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/underagedrinking/calltoaction.pdf
Underage drinkers are susceptible to immediate consequences of alcohol use, including blackouts, hangovers, and alcohol poisoning and are at elevated risk of neurodegeneration (particularly in regions of the brain responsible for learning and memory), impairments in functional brain activity, and the appearance of neurocognitive defects. Heavy episodic or binge drinking impairs study hairs and erodes the development of transitional skills to adulthood.
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Zeigler, Donald, et al. “The Neurocognitive Effects of Alcohol on Adolescents and College Students.” Preventive Medicine 40 (2004): 23-32.
People who begin drinking before age 14 are seven times more likely than those who began drinking after age 21 to report being in a motor vehicle crash because of their drinking.
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Hingson, Ralph, et al. “Age of Drinking Onset, Driving After Drinking, and Involvement in Alcohol-Related Motor Vehicle Crashes.” DOT HS 809 188. Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, January 2001.