Even more alarming, says Elyse Singer in a West Hartford News article, is that teens seem to believe that binge drinking episodes are normal, expected and harmless. Singer is part of the Community Action Research Team project, West Hartford, Conn., a yearlong initiative to study teen trends around alcohol.

Others involved in the project say it’s difficult to pinpoint where or how teens are getting the message that binge drinking is normal or harmless, but believe it’s linked to media messages, online videos and advertising of products that promote a fast intoxication. Consequences from binge drinking can include a higher chance for alcohol addiction, dangerous driving decisions or unprotected sex, as well as organ damage to the liver and kidneys. Alcohol poisoning is also increasing and sending more teens to emergency rooms nationwide.

Teens and young adults interviewed in the Community Action Research Team project said they drink to boost self-esteem; to escalate their levels of enjoyment when spending time with friends; and to manage life stressors or negative emotions. As competition for high school grades, scholarships and athletic recognition mounts, more students may be turning to alcohol to escape, say the researchers.

Binge drinking seemed to be participated in by more Caucasian students than from other groups in the West Hartford study, and they were typically in the middle to upper social classes. The trend, say researchers, is similar across other U.S. communities.

Most of the teens in the study who were binge drinking were consuming hard alcohol they acquired from their homes. Singer and fellow researchers are urging parents to set clear expectations for their teen and to help them find activities that don’t involve alcohol.

The proposed connection between teen alcohol and casual Internet usage may help pinpoint which Internet behaviors have the greatest sway on teens’ decisions to drink alcohol. Researchers from New York’s Weill Cornell Medical College believe ads posted online that feature alcohol consumption and appear on sites where teens connect socially may have an impact on whether or not they drink alcohol. Similarly, teens who consume alcohol may be in front of the computer for recreation more often than their peers.

Researchers believe further explorations into the connections between recreational computing and alcohol use could help prevent pre-teens and children from developing behaviors that may make them more vulnerable to alcohol consumption. They point out the reality that children are beginning to use the Internet for recreation at earlier and earlier ages, and the need for parental computer monitoring is greater than ever.

Additionally, some teens have reported using alcohol while talking with friends on social media sites, and this pattern may be strengthened by the use of alcohol-related ads on major social networking venues. Teens who downloaded music from the Internet were also believed linked more often to consuming alcohol.

During the study, researchers asked more than 200 teens and preteens, aged 13 to 17, questions about their habits on the Internet and their alcohol consumption. Of the teens who had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days, a level of recreational Internet usage of 16 hours weekly was noted. For the teens who had avoided alcohol consumption in the past 30 days, their recreational Internet use was notably lower – around 12.7 hours weekly. Neither totals included time spent working on homework, and researchers did not note a connection between teen use of Internet video games or Internet shopping and consuming alcohol.

Parents may not realize that suggestive messages toward drinking alcohol are appearing on their teens’ recreational networking sites – nor that excessive use of social networking has been linked to higher rates of teen depression in some studies. One study suggests that most parents are not engaging in active Internet monitoring for their teens, but instead many parents may be focusing Internet blocks or filters toward their younger children.

While teen Internet use can be positive, providing an enhanced education, career information and social ties, further studies are called for to more closely understand the specific risks that key Internet behaviors – such as using social network sites – may pose for teens related to their likelihood of consuming alcohol.

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College surveyed 264 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 living in the United States, and found that teens who reported drinking alcohol in the last months used a computer recreationally more hours per week than those who did not drink. Drinking was also associated with more time spent on social networking sites and downloading (and listening to) music. There was no distinct link between alcohol use and using the computer for educational purposes, nor was there a link between drinking and video games or drinking and online shopping.

Dr. Jennifer Epstein, public health researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College, said that it seems that adolescents are experimenting with drinking and activities on the Internet. Online exposure to alcohol advertising or peers who are drinking alcohol and sharing this information on social networking sites could influence more teens to drink. She added that children are exposed to computers and the Internet at younger ages, so it’s important for parents to be actively involved in monitoring their children’s computer use, as well as their exposure to alcohol.

Dr. Epstein explained that a national study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that more than half of parents of teenagers had installed filters on their children’s computers, blocking certain content; however, many parents did not monitor their children’s use of the Internet, especially among parents of older teens.

Dr. Epstein said she and her colleagues would like to collect more data on the association between teen drinking and computer use, including the amount of alcohol they tend to drink and the duration of their drinking habits.

Many adolescents start experimenting with alcohol at age 12 or 13, and risk factors for problem drinking include the lack of parental supervision and poor parental communication, conflict within the family, inconsistent or harsh discipline, and a family history of substance abuse.

Dr. Gil Botvin, professor of public health and chief of the Division of Prevention and Health Behavior at Weill Cornell Medical College, said that this study is important for understanding the potential influence that the Internet may have on today’s youth. He added that while the Internet provides many opportunities for intellectual and social enrichment, there is clearly also a negative side. He concluded that more research is needed to better understand these potential risk factors and how to avoid them.

Source: Medical News Today, Teenage Alcohol Consumption Associated with Computer Use, May 9, 2011

Susanne Tanski, MD, of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center of Pediatrics in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and colleagues presented two studies at the Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research 2011 Annual Meeting. In the first study, 58 percent of the 328 adolescents who participated had consumed alcohol in the previous month, and 62 percent had engaged in binge drinking.

The participants answered an online survey that recalled television ads, in which they viewed still images from 39 alcohol ads and 15 fast-food ads (with the brand name/logo obscured). A four-point scale was used to determine whether participants had seen the ad and whether they could identify the brand.

The participants also answered questions about the number of times they had consumed alcohol and the number of times they had engaged in binge drinking in the previous month, their abuse of alcohol in the previous year, and the glass size of a typical drink. About 54 percent admitted to having vomited from alcohol abuse, 23 percent said they had passed out from drinking, and 38 percent admitted to memory loss after drinking.

After accounting for age, sex, ownership of alcohol-branded merchandise, preference in alcohol brand, and food ad recognition in a regression analysis, increased alcohol ad recognition was associated with higher drinking intensity and increased alcohol abuse. Put simply, those who recognized more alcohol brands drank more often in larger amounts.
Dr. Tanski told Medscape Medical News that the alcohol industry spent $17 billion in ads in 2009 in the United States, with a goal of creating brand loyalty and associating drinking with having fun. However, very little is actually known about whether exposure to alcohol ads increases the likelihood of alcohol abuse in adolescents.

David Jernigan, PhD, associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, and director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, told Medscape Medical News that every day in the United States, about 4,750 people under age 16 start drinking. He added that it is important to study the role of alcohol marketing in teen drinking because alcohol is responsible for about 5,000 deaths per year among those under the age of 21.

For the second study, the researchers wanted to look at the influence of television advertising of alcohol products on the brand preference and frequency of alcohol consumption in adolescence. The researchers surveyed 2,699 adolescents between the ages of 16 and 20, representing every state in the country.

The survey found that about 64 percent of the teens had tried alcohol, and about 21 percent had engaged in binge drinking in the previous month. Among those who had consumed alcohol, 68.1 percent said they had a preferred brand. Of the list of 158 brands, 53.2 percent preferred distilled spirits (mostly girls, who preferred Smirnoff), and 42,.4 percent preferred beer (mostly males, who preferred Budweiser).

Binge drinking in those who had a favorite brand ranged from 28 to 74 percent (25.1 percent for females and 38.8 percent for males), compared with 11 percent in those with no brand preference.

Dr. Jernigan told Medscape Medical News that other long-term studies have found that the more adolescents are exposed to alcohol marketing, the more likely it is that they will start drinking, or will drink more. He added that because marketing is done by brand, this kind of study is important in understanding the role of marketing in teen drinking.

Dr. Jernigan noted that their study focused on youth exposure to alcohol marketing, and has repeatedly identified a small group of brands that are responsible for the majority of adolescent exposure to alcohol advertising. His group is fighting for stronger industry regulation to protect young people from alcohol marketing campaigns, and this study on youth brand preference could strengthen the case.

Source: Medscape Medical News, Brian Hoyle, Alcohol Ads Influence Adolescent Problem Drinking, May 3, 2011

As many as 700,000 children in the 12 to 14-years age bracket in the U.S. have experimented with alcoholic beverages they acquired at home. According to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, one study shows that within a 30-day timeframe, more than 200,000 children received alcoholic beverages from a person in their family or their mother or father.

A three-year study including data from children ages 12-14 also said that of the youth who said they had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days, one-third got it from a parent, one-third got it from a relative and one-third found it at home without being granted permission.

Culture or family traditions are cited as reasons some children receive alcohol. Some say their parents gave them tastes of alcoholic beverages while they grew up, and their parents did the same for them. Experts warn that it’s not harmless behavior, and that children whose parents let them have alcohol at home have a higher tendency to experiment with alcohol beyond the walls of home than children who don’t.

In some households, parents believe it’s acceptable to give their children alcoholic beverages because they can control their car keys and prevent their child from operating a vehicle. However, this decision may give the child a higher chance of trying alcohol when they leave the house.

Peter Delany, SAMHSA, says when parents falsely believe giving their child alcohol instead of letting them try drugs on the street is better, they’re completely wrong. According to SAMHSA data, a child who consumes alcohol before he or she reaches the age of 15 has a five times higher chance of developing an addiction to alcohol or drugs by the time they reach 21, or in the timespan following that milestone birthday.

Accidents from risky behavior induced by alcohol are also a serious concern. Each year, around 5,000 people below the age of 21 lose their lives from accidents connected to alcohol, such as falling or drowning.

The situation of parents giving children alcohol seems to be a global problem. In England and Wales, a survey said that for around a fourth of children – 23 percent – who were becoming intoxicated monthly were getting the alcohol from parents. Only a small percentage said they needed to keep the behavior secret from their parents or caregivers.

Complications from underage drinking extend far, including a greater likelihood that the child or preteen will commit acts of violence. One U.K. study suggests that more than 25 percent of children who consumed alcohol on average of one to three occasions monthly were involved in a violent incident.

The chances for drug abuse also increase when children consume alcohol, with 28 percent in the U.K. study saying they had experimented with drugs, in comparison to only one percent of the children who had not consumed alcohol who reported trying drugs.

Parents are urged not to underestimate the consequences of giving their children alcohol, ranging from health and school problems, acts of violence, a tendency for drug use and problems with alcohol abuse later in life. They are also urged to talk to their kids early about the dangers of alcohol, and to keep talking over and over again.

First author Dorothea Blomeyer, a senior researcher at the Central Institute of Mental Health, said that it has long been known that drinking alcohol at an early age is associated with heavier drinking in general, and with more severe problems resulting from alcohol use, including alcohol dependency.

Rainer Spanagel, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Heidelberg, added that many studies suggest that there is an association between early AFD and later alcohol use disorders, which could be relevant in the context of stressful live events.

The researchers examined participants from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, a study of the outcome of early risk factors from infancy to adulthood. This study included 306 participants who were asked about their AFD, stressful life events in the past three years, daily stress events in the past month, and drinking behaviors at 22 years of age. They were also asked about how much alcohol they consumed and the frequency of their drinking during the last month. Because the researchers regularly assessed the participants during adolescence, their responses are assumed to be more reliable than adults trying to remember their adolescence.

Blomeyer said that the researchers found that the impact of stressful life events on drinking patterns depends on the AFD. The earliest AFD among the participants was 8 years, and about half the participants had started drinking before they were 14. The earlier the AFD, the stronger the association between stressful life events and drinking in young adulthood. Stress-related drinking is characterized more by a higher number of drinks and not frequent drinking, according to Blomeyer.

Spanagel added that the association seemed to occur when individuals suffered from stressful life events such as job loss, but not from daily stressors. Blomeyer said they suspect that people with earlier AFDs learn to use alcohol to respond to stressful situations in adolescence.

Blomeyer added that the study adds to researchers’ knowledge of how the association between AFD and later heavy drinking might develop. Their study suggests that the association relies on a “forward-feeding” effect from heavier drinking in later adolescence, which is usually associated with stressful life events.

Spanagel added that large studies have indicated that each year, adolescents start having their first alcoholic drink at an earlier age, which is a problem that must be addressed. The researchers said prevention efforts should be aimed at delaying the onset of the first drink, as this can help prevent later alcohol use disorders and heavy drinking.

Source: Science Daily, An Early Age at First Drink Combined With Stressful Life Events Can Lead to Heavy Drinking, March 16, 2011

The report says that the number of emergency room visits by underage drinkers was significantly higher on New Year’s Day in 2009 than on several other holidays and average days during the year.

According to the report, there were 1,980 emergency room visits involving underage drinkers on New Year’s Day in 2009. This was more than twice the daily average over the Fourth of July weekend, which was 942.

Underage drinkers also made more than three times the number of emergency room visits on New Year’s Day in 2009 than the daily average over Memorial Day weekend.

Compared to an average day during the year, the number of emergency visits by underage drinkers was 263 percent higher on New Year’s Day in 2009.

Pamela S. Hyde, JD, SAMHSA administrator, said that the findings should be a wake-up call to parents and other adults, who should pay more attention to young people’s drinking activities, especially during this time of year.

Kenneth R. Warren, PhD, acting director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said that two to three times more people die in alcohol-related crashes during the period between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and 40 percent of traffic fatalities during this time involve a driver who is impaired by alcohol, compared to 28 percent in the earlier weeks of December.

SAMHSA says that parents should talk with their children early and often about the dangers of drinking alcohol, and that parents, teachers, and other influential adults should talk to children about how alcohol impacts physical and mental health. Parents should also be aware that young people tend to drink more on New Year’s than other times of the year.

Source: WebMD, Bill Hendrick, Underage Drinking Soars on New Year’s Day, December 30, 2010

Researchers are exploring the neural processes of adolescents with family histories of alcohol abuse, and have found that a positive family history is associated with an increased risk of future alcoholism.

Marisa Silveri, co-author of the study, assistant professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and neuroscientist at the Brain Imaging Center within McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, said that the researchers looked at adolescents that hadn’t yet started drinking but had a family history of alcoholism as this would allow them to examine differences in brain activity in teens who drank and teens who didn’t drink.

Silveri said that altered brain functions in teens who have already started drinking could be a result of alcohol use or a pre-existing brain difference that leads to drinking, so this study looked at whether functional brain differences could be observed before the onset of alcohol consumption in adolescents who are at a greater risk of abusing alcohol compared to those who don’t have alcoholism in their family.

For the study, the researchers used the Stroop Interference Test, which requires subjects to prevent themselves from reading the name of a color out loud, instead focusing on a less automatic response of stating the color of the ink the word is written in. For example, saying “blue” when the word “red” is written in blue ink.

The study included 32 adolescents who volunteered for the experiment, and 18 of them had a family history of alcoholism. Using an MRI scanner, they collected data to indicate activation levels within the brain during the Stroop test.

They found that those with family history of alcoholism had higher levels of frontal lobe activation during the Stroop test, suggesting that this group had decreased neuronal efficiency.

Susan F. Tapert, a professor at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and University of California San Diego Department of Psychiatry, said that the study suggests that people with family histories of alcoholism have a less developed frontal system, which may make them less equipped to manage real-life situations such as choosing not to drink alcohol.

Silveri said it’s important to educate adolescents on why family histories of alcoholism could put them at a greater risk of developing alcohol problems in the future.

Source: Science Daily, Adolescents at Risk for Alcohol Abuse Show Decreased Brain Activation, December 6, 2010

This study is the first to identify an underlying mechanism for one of the major behavioral differences between adults’ and teens’ responses to alcohol. Dr. Doug Matthews, lead author of the study and a research scientist at Baylor, said that the study is an important advancement in understanding why teens are less sensitive to alcohol and might, as a result, drink to dangerous levels.

Matthews said that the different effect is not due to different blood-alcohol levels, and that the reduced sensitivity in teens is troublesome because teens often binge drink, increasing their alcohol consumption throughout adolescence. Because of this, it’s important to understand why the teenage brain is less sensitive to the effects of alcohol.

The researchers found that in adolescents, the firing rate of the cerebellar Purkinje neuron was insensitive to high alcohol doses, while the firing rate of the same neuron was significantly lower in adults. The firing rates in adults dropped by 20 percent, which indicates potential motor impairment. The firing rates in adolescents did not dramatically change in response to alcohol, showing a five percent increase.

The researchers said that the reduction of the neuron firing rates in adults could explain the increased sensitivity of adults to alcohol’s motor-impairing effects. They added that there are likely other contributions from other systems to cause the behavioral differences.

Science Daily, Molecular Mechanism That Causes Teens to Be Less Sensitive to Alcohol Than Adults Identified, December 3, 2010

Thoma said that both animal and human studies have suggested that binge drinking during adolescence can cause changes in the developmental process that can have negative consequences on learning and social behavior than last through adulthood. He added that the frontal lobe of the brain is important in developing decision-making skills, social skills, and judgment, and that heavy drinking can disrupt these processes.

For the study, the researchers assessed 19 adolescents who showed signs of substance abuse and/or dependence and 14 adolescents with a family history of substance abuse but without a history of personal use, as well as 15 individuals in a control group.

After performing several psychological tests, the researchers found that heavy alcohol and marijuana use significantly altered the developing adolescent mind. As drinking increased, the participants exhibited a significant decrease in attention and executive function (such as planning and selecting actions). Heavier marijuana use was also associated with a decrease in memory performance.

Susan F. Tapert, a professor of psychiatry at VA San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California San Diego, said that heavy drinking during the adolescent years can lead to delays or interrupted development of frontal brain regions, which can result in problems with executive functioning and attention. She added that if adolescents stopped drinking alcohol, they could experience a recovery of lost brain-cell function, as evidenced in some adults.

The researchers plan to continue their research to determine if the effects on the brain are dependent on the amount of alcohol consumed, and if moderate alcohol use in adolescents would require intervention. They also hope to test complex models to better understand how substance abuse develops and either persists or abates with time.

Source: Science Daily, Heavy Alcohol Use Suggests a Change in Normal Cognitive Development in Adolescents, October 20, 2010