The Adverse Effects of Under Age Drinking

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking 2007 (i) is a document released by the Office of the Surgeon General in order to address the adverse effects of under age drinking. The document highlighted important statistics to prove that underage alcohol consumption, especially binge drinking, results in a wide range of consequences that affect the teenage population, the people around them, and society in general.

The call to prevent and reduce underage drinking is based on, among others, the following:

1. Death from injuries, the number one reason why people below 21 die, is largely a consequence of underage drinking.

2. Risky sexual behavior is partly attributed to underage drinking. This includes “unwanted, unintended, and unprotected sexual activity, and sex with multiple partners. Such behavior increases the risk for unplanned pregnancy and contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.” Take note though that the study on which this conclusion was drawn, was based on an earlier study by Cooper and

Orcutt in 1997 and Cooper et al in 1994. (ii) This does not factor in the impact of better access to information and sex education in the last decade.

3. The risk of physical and sexual assault increases with underage drinking as well as the risks of academic failure and other schooling problems, the risks of drug abuse, and the risks of diseases including alcohol poisoning which can be fatal.

4. Incidents of smoking increases with teenage drinking.

5. Brain structures and functions are known to be adversely affected by binge drinking with consequences ranging from slow learning to loss of memory.

6. The U.S. Department of Transportation Fatality Analysis Reporting System in 2004 found that teenage drinking created “secondhand effects that can put others at risk.” These include people who died because of a drunk driver, and other behaviors such as loudness and aggression; actions which intentionally or unintentionally damage property; and physical injury.

In its press release, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office appealed to Americans to be involved in the task to stop underage drinkers from using alcohol. Together with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), it crafted six goals:

Foster changes in society that facilitate healthy adolescent development and that help prevent and reduce underage drinking.
Engage parents, schools, communities, all levels of government, all social systems that interface with youth, and youth themselves in a coordinated national effort to prevent and reduce underage drinking and its consequences.
Promote an understanding of underage alcohol consumption in the context of human development and maturation that takes into account individual adolescent characteristics as well as environmental, ethnic, cultural, and gender differences.
Conduct additional research on adolescent alcohol use and its relationship to development.
Work to improve public health surveillance on underage drinking and on population-based risk factors for this behavior.
Work to ensure that policies at all levels are consistent with the national goal of preventing and reducing underage alcohol consumption. (iii)

The above cited effects of under age drinking has been used by various advocacy groups to educated teenagers and parents about the effects on alcohol on the young population.