Alcohol consumption by youth in the United States

Alcohol consumption by youth in the United States

Alcohol consumption by youth in the United States of America is an umbrella term for alcohol consumption by children and adults under 21 years of age across the country.

Although the minimum legal age to purchase alcohol is 21 in all states (see National Minimum Drinking Age Act), the legal details vary greatly. While a few states completely ban alcohol usage for people under 21, the majority have exceptions that permit consumption. [Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) [http://alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/stateprofiles/ State Profiles of Underage Drinking Laws] ]

When drinking occurs in private establishments, the alcohol is usually obtained by a person who is at least 21Fact|date=October 2007 though a few liquor and convenience stores illegally sell to underage people. Strict fines make it more appealing to store owners to check a person's age.Fact|date=October 2007

Underage drinking has become an activity primarily done behind closed doors. Typically, minors hide their alcohol consumption by drinking quickly before they go out which is often referred to as pregaming or pre-partying. Brittany Levine explained in her article “Pre-Partying” in the USA Today newspaper that, “of all drinking events involving pre-partying, 80% involved additional drinking afterward.” [(Levine. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-12-18-prepartying-study_N.htm)] Those who oppose a complete ban on underage drinking argue that it is important that minors be introduced to alcohol in a controlled environment, so that supervision and guidance might occur instead of experimentation.

Current issues

Seventy-seven percent of the population over 21 reports supporting the current 21-year drinking age (Gallup, 2007); thus, the likelihood of it being lowered is low.Fact|date=August 2008 As it stands, any state that lowers the drinking age would lose 10% of its federal highway funding [ [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-20-drinkingage_N.htm States weigh lowering drinking age - USATODAY.com ] ] . This could range from a $6-150 million loss for any single state.

In 2007, the drinking age debate in the United States was renewed when Choose Responsibility began promoting lowering of the drinking age coupled with education and rules to persuade people to drink responsibly before they are of legal age. Before one is eligible to buy, possess and consume alcohol, an alcohol education class must be completed in its entirety and each teen must pass a final examination before licensing can occur. If a teen has any alcohol-related law violations before they turn 18, they will have a minimum of one year per violation before they are eligible to be licensed. [(McCardell. http://www.chooseresponsibility.org/proposal/)]

In 2008, McCardell and the presidents of over 100 U.S. colleges launched the Amethyst Initiative, a campaign to debate and change current alcohol laws and to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. [(http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jWXhmLxHPcv8q_iFiN7nLt7RP8CgD92L2IIO0)]

Prevention Programs

Alcohol use by young adults is extremely prevalent on college campuses across the United States, and alcohol abuse is not uncommonFact|date=August 2008. Many of these universities are taking steps in order to cut down the number of underage students who use alcohol, though many universities focus primarily on preventing misuse. There are many different types of methods used among the campuses such as: social norming, motivational interviewing, the transtheoretical model of behavioral changes, and the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students.

Social norming is defined as students having negative misconceptions about how much their peers drink. ["Social Norms: An Introduction." National Social Norms Institute. February 2008. [http://www.socialnorms.org/FAQ/FAQ.php.] ] It is a program utilized on many campuses to help actively engage students in an alcohol prevalent campus atmosphere. The main goal of applying a course similar to social norming on college campuses is to tell the students the actual number of students who drink and how much they drink. A study was done at the University of North Carolina in which the police administered breathalyzer tests to students returning home at night. The results were that 2 out of 3 students blew a zero Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). The study reassured students that many students on the campus choose not to drink, causing the number of students that reported drinking underage to decline by 15%. However, the study did not consider other factors, such as the time of the year when the breathalyzer tests were administered; for example, it is likely that less students drink during final exam weeks, and more drink at the beginning of the school year. [Strand, E. The illusion of college drinking. "Psychology Today", October 2003. [http://www.psychologytoday.com/htdocs/prod/PTOArticle/pto-20031016-000001.asp.] ]

Dr. William Miller developed motivational interviewing in 1981; Miller states that it focuses on helping the individual identify the need to change without help. [White, Aaron. "College Drinking-Prevention Programs." "Alcohol Info-Topics in Alcohol Research". 2007. Duke University-Department of Psychiatry. [http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/College/college14.htm.] ] A main concept of motivational interviewing is that the interviewer does not give much advice rather, the interviewer asks questions pertaining to the student’s life in the future, the student’s behavior in drinking, and how his or her behavior fits into his or her life in the future.

The transtheoretical model of behavioral changes focuses more on what initiatives make students adjust their drinking habits. It includes a five-step program that helps motivate students to change. These five steps include precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. [Walters, Scott, and John Baer. Talking with College Students about Alcohol. New York: The Guilford Press, 2006.] The originators of this prevention program have created a model that is easily adaptable to different people’s lifestyles. Each step in the process requires different types of strategies but each step, consistently follows the program.

The Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students program consists of a brief survey given to students to help them assess their alcohol usage against other students. It also consists of one or two counseling sessions granted to the students to provide support and not be confrontational regarding their alcohol use. As of 2002, a study found that students who completed the BASICS program “reduced their average number of drinks per week, frequency of heavy drinking by two percent, their peak Blood Alcohol Concentration by thirty-five percent, and their rate of alcohol related problems by two percent." ["Campuses with Award-Winning Programs." Alcohol and other Drug Prevention Programs on College Campuses. 2003. U.S. Department of Education. [http://www.higheredcenter.org/pubs/model.html#campuses.] ]

ee also

* National Minimum Drinking Age Act
* National Youth Rights Association
* Age discrimination
* Suspect class
* The Century Council
* Choose Responsibility
* Amethyst Initiative

References

External links

* [http://www.madd.org/stats MADD Online: Stats & Resources]
* [http://www.abc.ca.gov/programs/Shoulder_tap.html California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Shoulder Tap Program]
* [http://www.chooseresponsibility.org Choose Responsibility]
* [http://centurycouncil.org/learn-the-facts The Century Council: Learn the Facts]
* [http://www.youthrights.org National Youth Rights Association]


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