Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume 48, Issue 7 , Pages 692-702, July 2009

Binge Drinking Among Youths and Young Adults in the United States: 1979–2006

  • Richard A. Grucza, Ph.D., M.P.E.

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to Richard A. Grucza, Ph.D., M.P.E., Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, Box 8134, St. Louis, MO 63110
    • ,
  • Karen E. Norberg, M.D.
    • ,
  • Laura J. Bierut, M.D.

All of the authors are with the Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Norberg is also with the National Bureau of Economic Research

Accepted 3 February 2009.

Disclosure: Dr. Bierut is listed as an inventor on a patent (US 20070258898) held by Perlegen Sciences, covering the use of certain genetic polymorphisms in determining the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of addiction, and has also acted as a consultant for Pfizer. The other authors report no conflicts of interest.

Abstract 

Objective

To evaluate trends in the past 30–day prevalence of binge drinking by age, sex, and student status, among youths and young adults in the United States between 1979 and 2006, a period that encompasses the federally mandated transition to a uniform legal drinking age of 21 years, and other policy changes aimed at curbing underage drinking.

Method

Data were analyzed from 20 administrations of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, yielding a pooled sample of more than 500,000 subjects. Trends in relative risk for four different age groups, stratified by sex, relative to the 24- to 34-year-old reference group were calculated. We also examined trends in risk for binge drinking associated with student status (among college-age students) and race/ethnicity.

Results

Significant reductions in relative risk for binge drinking over time were observed for 12- to 20-year-old males, but no changes were observed for females in this age range, and binge drinking among minority females increased. Risk for binge drinking increased among 21- to 23-year-old women, with college women outpacing nonstudents in this age range. Trends also indicate that no reduction in binge drinking occurred for college men.

Conclusions

Although the overall trend is toward lower rates of binge drinking among youths, likely a result of a higher legal drinking age and other changes in alcohol policy, little improvement has occurred for college students, and increases in binge drinking among women has offset improvements among youths. Understanding these specific demographic trends will help inform prevention efforts.

Key Words:  binge drinking , alcohol , epidemiology , trends

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 This study was supported by NIH-K01DA16618 (R.G.), Washington University Center for Health Policy (K.N.), U10AA08401, HG-U01-004422, and K02DA021237 (L.B.). The recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) surveys have been sponsored by the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA-OAS); field work was conducted by RTI International. The NSDUH data was obtained from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive through the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA).The authors thank Mr. Joe Gfroerer, from the SAMHSA-OAS, for helpful discussions regarding analysis of the NSDUH series.This article is the subject of an editorial by Dr. Deborah Deas in this issue.

PII: S0890-8567(09)60106-4

doi:10.1097/CHI.0b013e3181a2b32f

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume 48, Issue 7 , Pages 692-702, July 2009

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