TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of High-Intensity Drinking from Adolescence through Young Adulthood
T2 - National Data from 2016-2017
AU - Patrick, Megan E.
AU - Terry-McElrath, Yvonne M.
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - High-intensity drinking (HID; ie, having 10+ drinks in a row) is a recognized public health concern due to the individual and public risks (eg, alcohol-related injuries, alcohol poisoning, memory loss, sexual risk) associated with consumption of a large quantity of alcohol over a relatively short time period. Using nationally representative samples of US 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students, and follow-up of subsamples of 12th graders, we present overall and sex-specific prevalence estimates of past 2-week HID from 29 966 individuals at the modal ages of 14 to 30 in 2016-2017. Similar data for the more commonly studied measure of binge drinking (having 5+ drinks in a row) is provided for comparison. HID prevalence ranged from 1% to 11.5% and was significantly higher for males than females at all ages other than modal age 14 (8th grade). Binge drinking prevalence ranged from 3.5% to 32.5%; males reported a higher prevalence than females at approximately half of the ages examined. Peak binge drinking and HID age for males was earlier (modal age 21/22) than that for females (modal age 21-24 for binge drinking and 25/26 for HID). The observed rapid increase in HID from adolescence through the early to mid-20s highlights the importance of prevention and intervention efforts targeted to these ages.
AB - High-intensity drinking (HID; ie, having 10+ drinks in a row) is a recognized public health concern due to the individual and public risks (eg, alcohol-related injuries, alcohol poisoning, memory loss, sexual risk) associated with consumption of a large quantity of alcohol over a relatively short time period. Using nationally representative samples of US 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students, and follow-up of subsamples of 12th graders, we present overall and sex-specific prevalence estimates of past 2-week HID from 29 966 individuals at the modal ages of 14 to 30 in 2016-2017. Similar data for the more commonly studied measure of binge drinking (having 5+ drinks in a row) is provided for comparison. HID prevalence ranged from 1% to 11.5% and was significantly higher for males than females at all ages other than modal age 14 (8th grade). Binge drinking prevalence ranged from 3.5% to 32.5%; males reported a higher prevalence than females at approximately half of the ages examined. Peak binge drinking and HID age for males was earlier (modal age 21/22) than that for females (modal age 21-24 for binge drinking and 25/26 for HID). The observed rapid increase in HID from adolescence through the early to mid-20s highlights the importance of prevention and intervention efforts targeted to these ages.
KW - Binge drinking
KW - adolescent
KW - alcohol
KW - gender
KW - high-intensity drinking
KW - sex
KW - young adult
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067247055&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85067247055&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1178221818822976
DO - 10.1177/1178221818822976
M3 - Article
C2 - 30718957
AN - SCOPUS:85067247055
VL - 13
JO - Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment
JF - Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment
SN - 1178-2218
ER -