Alcohol-Related Facts
Underage drinking is a problem that has concerned parents and responsible adults for years, and its magnitude is greater than ever today. Although it is illegal in the United States for anyone under 21 to buy alcoholic beverages, current research findings reveal that youth under the age of 21 drink almost 20% of the alcohol consumed in the United States.x
There is a terrible cost. Alcohol kills five times more Texas teens than all other drugs combined.1 Its use plays a substantial role in all three leading causes of death among youth — unintentional injuries (including motor vehicle fatalities and drowning), suicides, and homicides.
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Alcohol use also impedes normal emotional growth during the critical teen years of development, and significantly lowers the learning capacity of developing adolescents, ages 12–20.
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Use of alcohol also is associated with most other drug uses, and is highly correlated with violence, fighting, negative attitudes, academic failure and poor health practices. Alcohol-using, sexually active teens are more likely to engage in high-risk behavior leading to unplanned pregnancies, HIV or STDs. 5
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Why do youth drink? Most say it’s because drinking makes them “feel good.” It helps them forget their problems. Nearly 50% in one survey said they get drunk because they have nothing better to do.
- Among Texas students, the average age for first drinking beer is 12.4, followed by 12.7 for wine coolers and 13.3 for liquor. 1
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When ask where they get the alcohol they drink 65% of youth surveyed in Dallas said that they got it from family and friends. 2
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It is illegal to make alcohol available to children other than your own.
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27% of seniors report binge drinking of beer and 22% report binge drinking of liquor. Binge drinking is defined as drinking five or more drinks at a time. 1
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Dallas leads the nation in the rate of alcohol-related traffic deaths. 3
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Almost 16% of high school students reported driving after drinking and 40% reported riding with a drinking driver in the past months. 4
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Texas leads the nation in the rate of alcohol-related traffic deaths among 15 to 20-year-olds. 3
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Children who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop problems with alcohol use and dependence than those who begin drinking at the age of 21 or older. 3
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Underage drinking costs the nation almost $60 billion a year – enough to buy every public school student a state-of-the-art computer. In Texas, the cost of underage drinking is more than $5.5 billion a year. Costs include traffic crashes, violent crime, burns, drowning, suicide attempts, fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol poisoning, and treatment. 5
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Over two out of every five of all college students are binge drinkers. 6
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Prior use of alcohol and / or tobacco increases the risk of early sexual experience by 80%.
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It is illegal to make alcohol available to children other than your own.
1 Texas Commission on Alcohol & Drug Abuse
2 The Century Council
3 National Highway & Transportation Safety Administration
4 Texas Department of Health, Texas Youth Risk Behavior Survey, October 2002
5 Pacific Institute on Research & Evaluation
6 SAMSHA, 2004; Weschler, et al, 2002
Additional Resources
Alcoholism & Drug Dependence – America’s #1 Health Problem
Alcohol Treatment & Adolescents
Alcohol: What You Don’t Know Can Harm You
A Lesson Learned About Alcohol from Harry Potter
Effects at Specific B.A.C. Levels
Take an Alcohol Screening Test
The Role of Parents in Preventing & Addressing Underage Drinking
Tips for Teens: The Truth About Alcohol
