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Underage drinking can fuel motor vehicle accidents, emergency room visits and unplanned sexual activity as well as teen-on-teen violence. When young people drink, they often do so to excess and more underage kids are drinking than you might suspect.
Underage Drinking and Driving:
Nearly 25 percent of drivers ages 16-20 involved in fatal automobile accidents had been drinking (NHTSA, 2005).
Half of all person who die in traffic accidents involving underage drivers who drank are people other than the drinking driver (NHTSA, 2003).
About one in three high school students say they have ridden in an automobile with a driver who had been drinking (NHTSA, 2003).
One in 10 high school students drove after drinking (YRBS, 2003).
That breaks down to 6 percent of 16-year-olds, 13 percent of 17-year-olds and 16 percent of 18-year-olds who report driving under the influence of alcohol (NHTSA, 2003).
Who's Drinking and How Much:
Almost 30 percent of young people ages 12-20 use alcohol (SAMHSA, 2005). They account for 20 percent of all the alcohol drunk in the US (Foster et al., JAMA, 2003). More than 90 percent of this alcohol is consumed during binge drinking (DOJ, 2001).
Underage drinkers consume an average of five drinks at a time, about six times a month (SAMHSA, 2005).
Forty-seven percent of high school seniors drank during the past month (NIDA, 2006).
About 2.4 million kids ages 12-20 are heavy drinkers, meaning they had five or more drinks at one time on five or more days in the past month (SAMHSA, 2005 ).
More than a quarter of 12th graders drink heavily, while more than 20 percent of 10th graders do so (Johnson et al., 2005).
Drinking, Sex and Violence:
Girls 16-19 are four times more likely to be the victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault than the general population (National Crime Victimization Study, 2000).
About 44 percent of rape victims are under the age of 18 (RAINN).
Twenty-five percent of high school students said they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they last engaged in sexual activity (Office of National AIDS Policy).
Thirty-seven percent of sexually active teens did not use a condom at last sexual intercourse (YRBS, 2004).
Twenty-five percent had used alcohol or drugs the last time they had sex (YRBS, 2004).
Alcohol or drugs influenced 29 percent of 15-17 year-olds and 37 percent of 18-24 year-olds to engage in sexual activity (Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, 2003).
Alcohol was linked to 36 percent of murders, 12 percent of male suicides and 8 percent of female suicides of people under 21 (CDC, 2000).
Forty-five percent of rapes, 44 percent of robberies and 37 percent of other assaults by individuals under the age of 21 are alcohol related (NIDA, 1998).
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