A developmental perspective on underage alcohol use

Abstract

Underage alcohol use can be viewed as a developmental phenomenon because many kinds of developmental changes and expectations appear to influence this behavior and also because it has consequences for development. Data on alcohol use, abuse, and dependence show clear age-related patterns. Moreover, many of the effects that alcohol use has on the drinker, in both the short and long term, depend on the developmental timing of alcohol use or exposure. Finally, many developmental connections have been observed in the risk and protective factors that predict the likelihood of problem alcohol use in young people. Therefore, efforts to understand and address underage drinking would benefit from a developmental perspective, and the general principles of developmental psychopathology offer a useful conceptual framework for research and prevention concerned with underage drinking.

Figure 1

Percentage of americans who have ever drunk alcohol (i.e., consumed a whole drink). SOURCE: SAMHSA, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2007.

Figure 2

Past-month alcohol use (any, binge, heavy) by age. NOTE: *Binge is defined as five or more drinks on an occasion. **Heavy Drinking is defined as five or more drinks on an occasion on five or more of the past 30 days. SOURCE: SAMHSA, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2007.

Figure 3

Number of days in the past 30 days on which drinkers consumed five or more drinks, by age and gender. SOURCE: SAMHSA, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2007.

Figure 4

Number of drinking days per month and usual number of drinks per occasion for youth (ages 12 to 20), young adults (ages 21 to 25), and adults (ages 26 and older). SOURCE: SAMHSA, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2007.

Figure 5

Past-month adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use by grade according to the 2007 monitoring the future survey. SOURCE: Johnston et al. 2007.

Figure 6

Prevalence of past-year dsm–iv alcohol dependence in the united states. SOURCE: 18+ years: 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, 12–17 years: National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2003.

Figure 7

Association between age at initiation of alcohol use and lifetime dependence (i.e., meeting the DSM–IV criteria for dependence at some point in life). The blue curve represents all respondents, the yellow curve represents respondents with a family history of alcoholism, and the black curve represents respondents without a family history of alcoholism. SOURCE: 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.