Youth Drinking and Alcohol Abuse: Risk Factors and Consequences
Posted on:6/16/2009
Written By: Chris Robideaux
| This article briefly outlines the current state of youth drinking and alcohol abuse in the United States. |
Many young people in the United States consume alcohol despite a minimum legal drinking age of 21. A good number of those abuse alcohol by drinking frequently or by binge drinking--often defined as having five or more drinks in a row. Combine this phenomenon with a heavily car-dependent culture, and you have a recipe for disaster on U.S. roadways on almost any given night. As well, a minority of these youth may meet the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for alcohol dependence (1,2). The progression of drinking from use to abuse to dependence is associated with biological and psychosocial factors. It is all too clear that society needs to further examine the factors that put youth more and more at risk for drinking and for alcohol-related problems.
Although overall drunk driving deaths are down in the last quarter century or so, youth (ages 16-25) fatalities and DUI accidents and arrests continue soaring.