Underage drinking contributes to the 3 leading causes of death (unintentional injury,
homicide, and suicide) among persons aged 12 to 20 years. Most adverse health effects
from underage drinking stem from acute intoxication resulting from binge drinking.
Although binge drinking, typically defined as consuming > or = 5 drinks on an occasion,
is a common pattern of alcohol consumption among youth, few population-based studies
have focused specifically on the characteristics of underage binge drinkers and their
associated health risk behaviors.
We analyzed data on current drinking, binge drinking, and other health risk behaviors
from the 2003 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Prevalence estimates and 95% confidence
intervals were calculated by using SAS and SUDAAN statistical software. Logistic regression
was used to examine the associations between different patterns of alcohol consumption
and health risk behaviors.
Overall, 44.9% of high school students reported drinking alcohol during the past 30
days (28.8% binge drank and 16.1% drank alcohol but did not binge drink). Although
girls reported more current drinking with no binge drinking, binge-drinking rates
were similar among boys and girls. Binge-drinking rates increased with age and school
grade. Students who binge drank were more likely than both nondrinkers and current
drinkers who did not binge to report poor school performance and involvement in other
health risk behaviors such as riding with a driver who had been drinking, being currently
sexually active, smoking cigarettes or cigars, being a victim of dating violence,
attempting suicide, and using illicit drugs. A strong dose-response relationship was
found between the frequency of binge drinking and the prevalence of other health risk
behaviors.
Binge drinking is the most common pattern of alcohol consumption among high school
youth who drink alcohol and is strongly associated with a wide range of other health
risk behaviors. Effective intervention strategies (eg, enforcement of the minimum
legal drinking age, screening and brief intervention, and increasing alcohol taxes)
should be implemented to prevent underage alcohol consumption and adverse health and
social consequences resulting from this behavior.