1 in 4 High School Students and Young Adults Report Binge Drinking

Nov 22, 2010 

CDC Online Newsroom

60 percent of high school students who drink, binge drink

More than 1 in 4 high school students and adults ages 18 to 34 engaged in a dangerous behavior known as binge drinking during the past month, according to the findings from a report by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC report found men are more than twice as likely to binge drink than women (21 percent compared to 10 percent). 

"Binge drinking, increases many health risks, including fatal car crashes, contracting a sexually transmitted disease, dating violence, and drug overdoses," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "Excessive alcohol use remains the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States and leads to a wide range of health and social problems."

"Alarmingly, almost 1 in 3 adults and 2 in 3 high school students who drink alcohol also binge drink, which usually leads to intoxication," said Dr. Robert Brewer, M.D., M.P.H., alcohol program leader at CDC and one of the authors of the report. "Although most binge drinkers are not alcohol-dependent or alcoholics, they often engage in this high risk behavior without realizing the health and social problems of their drinking. States and communities need to consider further strategies to create an environment that discourages binge drinking." (more...)

CDC Releases Two Reports on Excessive Alcohol Use and Related Harms

Nov 17, 2010
CADCA Resources & Research


Two reports posted on the American Journal of Preventive Medicine website show that states and communities can decide when and where alcohol can be sold by supporting laws that are proven to reduce excessive alcohol use and related harms to drinkers and others. Regulating the availability of alcohol, including maintaining limits on the number of days and hours when alcohol can be sold, as well as the number of places that sell alcohol, are strategies proven to reduce many of the harmful outcomes of drinking too much alcohol, even for non-drinkers.

Also detailed in the reports are evidence-based strategies coalitions can adopt in their communities, if they are not already doing so, to prevent binge and underage drinking such as: “dram shop” liability, increasing alcohol taxes, maintaining limits on days of sale, maintaining limits on hours of sale, regulation of alcohol outlet density, maintaining minimum legal drinking age laws, and enhanced enforcement of laws prohibiting underage sales.

Community and Campus Prevention and Intervention Reduces College Drinking

Nov 17, 2010
CADCA Resources & Research

Highly visible cooperative projects, in which colleges and their surrounding communities target off-campus drinking settings, can reduce alcohol use among college students, according to a report by researchers supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health. 

Principal investigator Dr. Robert Saltz, conducted the “Safer California Universities” study of college and community alcohol prevention strategies at 14 large public universities in California.

Beginning in 2003, Dr. Saltz and his colleagues conducted random surveys of students from each of the participating schools. The survey documented that heavy drinking at off-campus parties was a common problem. The data, not surprisingly, showed that most problems campuses have occur at off-campus settings, where most of the students live. 

Policy and enforcement interventions were implemented in 2005 and 2006 at half of the universities, with the other half also monitored for comparison. Interventions included nuisance party enforcement operations, surveillance to prevent alcohol sales to minors, drunken driving checkpoints, social host ordinances, and use of campus and local media to increase the visibility of the interventions. (more...)

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