Alcohol's effects on adolescents.
Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: During adolescence, many people begin to experiment with alcohol, yet relatively little is known about alcohol’s effects on this critical stage of development. We do know that early initiation of alcohol use remains one of the most powerful predictors of later alcohol abuse (Grant 1998). We also know that during adolescence changes occur in the regions of the brain involved in modulating drug reinforcement, so it cannot be assumed that factors precipitating alcohol use or abuse are the same in adolescence as in adulthood. Rapidly changing body systems often are particularly vulnerable to disruption, and hence long-term consequences may result from alcohol exposure during this time of accelerated neural and endocrine system maturation (Spear 2000a). For all of these reasons, adolescence is a critical stage of development, and additional research is warranted into the effects of drinking during this important transition period. This sidebar briefly reviews findings on how alcohol affects adolescents, with a special emphasis on the impact of alcohol on neural and endocrine development. Though the research in this area is scarce, genderspecific effects are highlighted whenever possible. Epidemiology of Drinking Among Adolescents Results from national surveys of adolescents and young adults show that alcohol use is prevalent among both young men and women. The prevalence of drinking and binge drinking (consuming five or more drinks on a single occasion in the previous 2 weeks) is higher among male students relative to their female peers, but data from the Monitoring the Future Survey (MFS) (Johnston et al. 2002)—a nationally representative sample of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders—show that the gender gap is closing. For example, in 2001, 36 percent of 12th grade males reported binge drinking, compared with 24 percent of their female counterparts (a 12-percentage-point difference). However, in 1975 there was a 23-percentage-point difference between rates of male and female binge drinking (Johnston et al. 2002). Among females, 20.6 percent of 8th graders and 45.1 percent of 12th graders reported using alcohol in the 30 days prior to the survey (i.e., 30-day prevalence); of those 8th grade females, more than half reported binge drinking.
Source: Europe PMC (PubMed Central)
Author: Linda Patia Spear
Institution: Binghamton University
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2161844478