Binge Drinking Presentation to Safe and Healthy Kids Program County Coordinators Doubletree Hotel Sacramento, CA Sacramento 21, 2004 Presented by: Joël L. Phillips Community Prevention Institute (CPI)

Issues What constitutes excessive alcohol consumption? Is there a problem with excessive alcohol use among California adolescents? If so, to what extent? What are the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption? What can we do?

What is Excessive Alcohol Consumption (Binge Drinking)? General Binge (high risk) drinking is the consumption of alcohol to the extent that harmful consequences – health, academic, legal and others – may be expected. Specific (Recent NIAAA definition) A “binge” is a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings the blood alcohol level concentration (BAC) to 0.08 or above. For the typical adult, this pattern corresponds to consuming 5 or more drinks (male), or 4 or more drinks (female), in about 2 hours. A “drink” refers to half an ounce of alcohol (e.g., one 12- oz. beer, one 5 oz. glass of wine, or one 1.5 oz. shot of distilled spirits.)

Dimensions of the Problem Table 1. High Risk Drug Use & Excessive Alcohol Use * ( % ) * (% ) ( % ) (%) ( % ) ( % ) ( % ) Grade 9 Excessive Alcohol Users (EAU) High-Risk Drug Users (HRU) a Total EAU or HRU Grade 11 Excessive Alcohol Users (EAU) High-Risk Drug Users (HRU) a, Total EAU or HRU a Refers to drug use in the past six months only. *Passive parent consent required for participation; starting in 1995, active (written) consent was required.

Excessive Alcohol & High-Risk Drug Users Grade 11

Trend Data Results The trend data in Table 1 supports several conclusions: 1. High rate use of alcohol or drugs by California students increases significantly in the middle and high school years. 2. Despite the emphasis on alcohol and drug prevention in schools, the percentage of students who report high use rates for alcohol or other drugs has been relatively constant over the last decade; EAU and HRU rates are nearly the same as the rates. 3. Excessive alcohol use is more prevalent than high risk drug use. 4. A substantial percentage of California secondary school students report that they are high rate users.

Binge Drinking Grade 7Grade 9Grade (%) Never days days days Table 2. Frequency Consumed Five or More Drinks in a Row, Past 30 Days By the 11 th grade, approximately one fourth of the student sample reported binge drinking at least once in the last 30 days. Approximately 12 percent of 11 th graders binged 3 or more days in the past month.

Binge Drinkers and Problem Behavior Binge drinkers are much more likely to put themselves and others in harm’s way through being intoxicated and through drinking and driving. Binge drinkers are more likely to be involved in gangs and potential violence than students who do not binge. Binge drinkers are more likely to be involved in relationship violence, and issue of particular relevance to SAPs Table 3. Other Alcohol-use Correlates of Binge Drinking, 11th Graders, 2003 CSS Total Sample Binge Drank, Past 30 Days Non-binge Drinker, 30 Days No Alcohol, 30 Days Likes to get really drunk Was drunk 3 or more times Drink/drive episode, 3 or more Fight between groups, year Used weapon to threaten, year Been in a gang, ever Relationship violence, year

Binge Drinkers and School Behavior Total Sample Binge Drank, Past 30 Days Non-binge Drinker, 30 Days No Alcohol, 30 Days School-related Alcohol Use Used alcohol at school, past 30 days Drunk/high at school, 3 or more times School Violence (Year) Physical fight at school Taken a weapon to school Damaged school property School Behavior Skip school/cut class (ever) Skip school/cut class (“few times” or more) Low school connectedness  Much more likely to use substances at or before school, and to be under the influence of substances at school;  Somewhat more likely to engage in violent or destructive behavior at school;  Much more like to skip school or cut class; and  Tend to have lower connectedness to school. Table 4: Binge Drinking and School Behaviors

Summary: What are the Consequences of Excessive Alcohol Consumption Youth with serious alcohol problems: 11 times more likely to have serious problems with other drugs 10 times more likely to drink and drive 4 times more likely to be arrested 2 times more likely to have a C average or lower and are likely to miss twice as much school 2 times more likely to smoke 1.5 times more likely to require hospital emergency care 5 times more likely to commit suicide 4 times more likely to get into a serious fight 3.5 more times more likely to carry a weapon 3 times more likely to have a conduct disorder 3 times more likely to be hospitalized with a mental health problem 2 times more likely to get into an accident, injure another person or themselves Almost twice as likely to have multiple sex partners (Source: George Washington University Medical Center)

Other Consequences Binge drinking in High School, especially among males, is strongly predictive of binge drinking in college. (NIAAA) Young persons who begin drinking before age 13 are four times as likely to develop alcohol dependence and twice as likely to develop alcohol abuse as those who begin drinking at age 21. (National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey)

What Can We Do? 1. Recognize there is a serious problem with binge drinking in our schools. 2. Increase awareness/knowledge of consequences of underage binge drinking/alcohol use (Strategic Goal 4). - Among teachers/administrators - Students - Parents How to do this: Share information with other teachers/administrators. Develop/use talking points on binge drinking strategies /consequences. - Develop flyers (CPI assistance) on the issue - Use teen group meetings to present information in a structured way – must be interactive 3. Examine current prevention/intervention services.

What Can We Do? (continued) How to do this:  Prevention curriculum, identify binge drinking explicitly. If so, what does it say/recommend?  Do we provide support structures – Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) for our students. If not, look at SDFSC. 4.Link up with local coalitions (particularly SIG funded counties) to be part of community-wide efforts examining and doing something. How:Contact ADP/CPI to get list of counties funded and or Binge Drinking SIG

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