Teenage Drinking Stats

• Children report that they find their first drink next to the milk container in the refrigerator.
• Research shows that kids whose parents or friends? parents provide alcohol for teen get-togethers are more likely to engage in heavier drinking, drinking more often, and being involved in life threatening traffic crashes.
• On average, 1.5 million 12-17 year olds need treatment for an alcohol problem in a given year.
• Alcohol is the most frequently used substance by New Jersey middle school students, with nearly 46.4% of them reporting that they had used alcohol in their lifetime and 13.8% reporting that they had used alcohol in the past 30 days.
• A male reports his first drink at age 11, female age 13. At age 15.9 is when both report starting to drink on a regular basis.
• Among 12-17 year old current drinkers, 31% have extreme levels of psychological distress and 39% exhibit serious behavioral problems. Students who abused alcohol were four times as likely as students who don’t abuse alcohol to have a major depressive disorder.
• 37% of 8 th grade females who drank heavily reported attempting suicide.
• 13% of 8 th grade males who drank heavily reported attempting suicide
• More than 30% of unplanned pregnancies occur while under the influence of alcohol and other drugs.
• Half of all people who die in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes are teenagers.
• Over 50% of all teenagers who die in vehicle crashes have alcohol in their blood. Eight young people a day die in alcohol-related crashes.
• Alcohol kills more teenagers than all other drugs combined. It is a factor in the three leading causes of death among 15-24 year olds: accidents, homicides, and suicides.
• Students with GPAs of D or F drink three times as much as those who earns A’s.
• Recent brain imaging studies in teens and young adults who drank heavily have shown shrinkage in an area of the brain that is responsible for memory and learning, which indicates that these young peoples ability to learn and remember suffers.
• Alcohol can also prevent teens from growing to full-size. Heavy drinking in teens has been shown to interfere with muscle and bone growth. In addition, people who drink as teenagers have a greater chance of osteoporosis later in life.
• Alcohol produces diminished inhibition, increase in violent behavior and poor judgment.
• Problems that can occur include: liver disease, cancer, inflammation of pancreas, gastric irritation, memory loss, increase risk for ulcers, depleted calcium, leading to increase in fractures, and loss of muscle growth. Brain damage, weakened vision, heartburn, nausea, gastritis and ulcers.
• Mixing alcohol with other drugs, including Tylenol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and barbiturates doubles the damaging effects of alcohol. This can cause slowed breathing, heart attack and death.
• Alcohol increases heart rate of 8 to 10 beats per minute.
• Every night, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., one in every 13 drivers is legally drunk.
• Every night, between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m., one in every seven drivers is legally drunk.