State alcohol-use estimates among youth and adults, 1993-2005.
BACKGROUND
Underage drinking, particularly binge drinking, is an important public health problem that results in substantial premature mortality and morbidity. Little is known about the potential influence of the alcohol-use behaviors of adults on youth alcohol use at a population level. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation of alcohol-use behaviors among youth with those of adults at a population level.


METHODS
Data were analyzed in 2007 and 2008, using biennial 1993-2005 data from state school-based Youth Risk Behavior Surveys of students in grades 9-12, and from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for adults aged >or=18 years. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) were used to compare state prevalence estimates for youth with those of adults for several alcohol-use measures.


RESULTS
Overall and subgroup-specific state youth estimates of current drinking and binge drinking were generally moderately to strongly correlated with adult alcohol use (range of r -values for pooled estimates across all years: 0.35-0.68 for current drinking [p<0.01 for all correlations]; 0.24-0.60 for binge drinking [p<0.01 for all correlations]) and with youth and adult drinking-and-driving behaviors (range of r-values for pooled estimates: 0.12-0.52, p<0.01 for all but one correlation). Correlation coefficients were generally higher for girls with women and for youth with younger adults aged 18-34 years. The use of alcohol by youth before they were aged 13 years was not correlated with adult alcohol-use measures, and most youth alcohol-use measures were not correlated with adult heavy-alcohol use.


CONCLUSIONS
Most state youth alcohol-use estimates were correlated with state adult estimates. These findings have implications for underage-drinking control strategies and suggest that efforts to address this problem need to be targeted on a broader societal level.
Nelson
David E
DE
Alcohol Team, Emerging Investigations and Analytic Methods Branch, Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. den2@cdc.gov
Naimi
Timothy S
TS
Brewer
Robert D
RD
Nelson
Hayley A
HA
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult