title: Underage Drinking: A Review of Trends and Prevention Strategies.
abstract: Underage drinking and its associated problems have profound negative consequences for underage drinkers themselves, their families, their communities, and society as a whole, and contribute to a wide range of costly health and social problems. There is increased risk of negative consequences with heavy episodic or binge drinking. Alcohol is a factor related to approximately 4,300 deaths among underage youths in the U.S. every year. Since the mid-1980s, the nation has launched aggressive underage drinking prevention efforts at the federal, state, and local levels, and national epidemiologic data suggest that these efforts are having positive effects. For example, since 1982, alcohol-related traffic deaths among youth aged 16-20 years have declined by 79%. Evidence-based or promising strategies for reducing underage drinking include those that limit the physical, social, and economic availability of alcohol to youth, make it illegal for drivers aged <21 years to drive after drinking, and provide mechanisms for early identification of problem drinkers. Strategies may be implemented through a comprehensive prevention approach including policies and their enforcement, public awareness and education, action by community coalitions, and early brief alcohol intervention and referral programs. This paper focuses on underage drinking laws and their enforcement because these constitute perhaps the most fundamental component of efforts to limit youth access to and use of alcohol.
authors.affiliation: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Rockville, Maryland.
authors.forename: Frances M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Harding
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Ralph W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hingson
authors.affiliation: The CDM Group, Inc., Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klitzner
authors.affiliation: Alcohol Policy Consultations, Felton, California.
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Mosher
authors.affiliation: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Rockville, Maryland.
authors.forename: Jorielle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Rockville, Maryland. Electronic address: robert.vincent@samhsa.hhs.gov.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Vincent
authors.affiliation: The CDM Group, Inc., Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dahl
authors.affiliation: The CDM Group, Inc., Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Carol L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Cannon
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000639:trends*; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D035082:Federal Government; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000191:economics*; D000066608:Underage Drinking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult