Leadership To Keep Children Alcohol Free

STUDY SHOWS CONSUMPTION OF ENGERY DRINKS IS A POTENTIAL PREDICTOR OF RISK BEHAVIOR

A March 2008 study in The Journal of American College Health found that the consumption of energy drinks is a potential predictor for risky behavior in college students. While the relationship has not been studied in a younger population, the consumption of these drinks may be an indicator that these young people may be especially drawn to taking risks. Energy drinks have come onto the scene relatively recently and are popular with young people including middle and high school students. According to The New York Times, May 26, 2008, about one-third of 12 to14 year olds say they consume energy drinks regularly. Health researchers and school officials are concerned since these drinks have been linked to reports across the country of nausea, abnormal heart rhythms, and emergency room visits. More information on this newly released research can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24831859.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Canada recently released a report that systematically estimated avoidable costs associated with alcohol abuse. The report found that implementing six interventions would save about $1 billion per year and approximately 800 lives. Dr. Jürgen Rehm, CAMH Senior Scientist, and his team focused on six interventions: (1) increasing taxes on alcohol, (2) lowering the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) legal limit from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent, (3) implementing a zero tolerance BAC for all drivers under age 21, (4) increasing the legal minimum drinking age from 19 to 21 years of age, (5) making bars safer by enforcing drinking laws, and (6) completing routine screening by health care professionals (brief interventions).

LEADERSHIP EXPANDS SAMHSA'S UNDERAGE DRINKING PREVENTION EFFORTS BY SPONSORING AN ADDITIONAL 25 TOWN HALL MEETINGS

A ground swell of local support for underage drinking prevention efforts is evident across the Nation. News reports of wide-scale involvement of parents, teens, teachers, faith-based leaders, city and state government leaders, law enforcement and others abound. During March-May, over 1,600 Town Hall meetings were held to further generate local interest. These meetings were funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in collaboration with the Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD).

The Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free has played a pivotal role in increasing the number of Town Hall Meetings in states with a participating governor's spouse. The Leadership partnered with the following companies to convene an additional 25 meetings: Motorola (20 meetings), Procter and Gamble (3 meetings), and Pride Surveys (2 meetings). For example, the May 1st Town Hall meeting held at the Schaumburg Convention Center in Illinois was moderated by State Rep. Paul Froehlich and sponsored by representatives of Motorola, the Schaumburg Police Department, Elk Grove High School, Prevention First and Kenneth Young Center. Another event underwritten by Procter and Gamble occurred in Colerain Township, located in Northwest Cincinnati, OH on May 1st. Teens played a key role in the organization and delivery of this event, giving further testimony of the critical role peers can play in preventing the devastation of underage alcohol use.

In this Weekly Update, nationwide efforts to address underage drinking during prom and graduation season—an established high risk time for increased alcohol consumption—are highlighted. During a typical prom weekend in 2005, 290 young people ages 15-20 were killed in alcohol-related crashes—of those, 198 deaths involved a 15 to 20-year-old impaired driver. [Source: MADD Prepares for Prom and Graduation. MADD Chapter Newsletter. 2007] If you are doing something in your state or community to address this high risk season, we'd like to hear about it.

YOUTH ALCOHOL USE CONTINUES TO DECLINE ACCORDING TO 2007 YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY (YRBS)

According to the latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2007)‚ rates of alcohol and other risky behaviors dropped among U.S. high school students. In 1991‚ approximately half of the responding students (50.8%) indicated that they had consumed at least one drink of alcohol on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey. In 2007‚ that percent dropped to 44.7%‚ representing a reduction of 6.1%. Moreover‚ 26.0% of students responding to the 2007 survey reported episodic heavy drinking (i.e.‚ consuming five or more drinks of alcohol in a row within a couple of hours on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey)‚ compared to 31.3% in 1991.
For a comprehensive look at the 2007 survey‚ see: http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm;
For trends in use since 1991‚ see: http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/pdf/yrbs07_us_alcohol_use_trend.pdf;
For a comparison of state or district and national trends‚ see: http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/state_district_comparisons.htm
For a complete summary as published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly‚ see: http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/pdf/yrbss07_mmwr.pdf

SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) released updated statistics on March 31 about underage drinking. The statistics appeared in The NSDUH Report, Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use among Underage Drinkers. According to the report, combined 2005 and 2006 data indicate that an annual average of 28.3 percent of persons aged 12 to 20 in the United States (an estimated 10.8 million annually) drank alcohol in the past month. Also, underage youth who drank in the past month used alcohol an average of 5.9 days and consumed an average of 4.9 alcoholic drinks on the days they drank. And, people under the legal age consumed, on average, more drinks per days on the days they drank in the past month than drinkers of legal age (4.9 drinks versus 2.8 drinks). See a related article in the September 6, 2007 Weekly Update.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released substance abuse data by State derived from its most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The report, “State Estimates of Substance Use from the 2005-2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health,” includes rates for underage drinking and binge drinking, illegal drug use, serious mental illness, and tobacco use. According to the report, past month alcohol use for youths aged 12 to 17 decreased nationally from 17.1 to 16.6 percent between 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. Four States showed decreases in this age group: California (16.2 to 14.7 percent), Indiana (17.1 to 14.6 percent), South Dakota (22.0 to 18.4 percent), and Wisconsin (22.6 to 19.3 percent). Nationally, binge alcohol use among youths aged 12 to 17 fell from 10.5 percent to 10.1 percent in 2005-2006. The District of Columbia had the lowest binge-drinking rate in this age group at 7.3 percent and Montana had the highest at 15.3 percent. SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline says in a press release, “This report shows that although states may be uniquely affected by serious public health problems like underage drinking, every state and region must confront these issues. By highlighting the nature and scope of the challenges affecting each state, we can help focus and target substance abuse and mental illness prevention and treatment resources.”

The relationship between early alcohol use initiation and violent and suicidal behaviors is the subject of a new study conducted by researchers from Georgia State University’s Institute of Public Health, according to a news release. The researchers analyzed data on 7th-graders taken from a 2004 survey of violence among public school students in a community defined as “high-risk” because of high levels of poverty, unemployment, serious crimes, and single-parent households. Among the results were that 35 percent of the 7th-graders had started drinking before age 13 (“preteen alcohol use initiators”). The youths who began drinking early were three times more likely than non-drinking peers to attempt suicide, and were more likely to be victims of dating and peer violence. Author Monica Swahn states, “Since early alcohol use was strongly associated with both dating violence victimization and suicide attempts, prevention efforts that delay or reduce adolescents’ alcohol use may prevent these forms of violence as well. A number of evidence-based strategies, such as enforcing minimum legal drinking age laws and increasing excise taxes on alcohol, are available but not fully implemented to prevent and reduce alcohol use among minors. Increased support of these strategies will be necessary to prevent alcohol abuse and the many health problems associated with its use among young people.” The study appears in the February issue of Pediatrics (Vol. 121, pp. 297-305) (see abstract).


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