New Findings on Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use Among Underage Drinkers

Source: SAMHSA eNetwork, 4/11/2008
In 2006, a majority (53.9 percent) of American adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 20 had used an alcoholic beverage at least once in their lifetime. Young people aged 12 to 20 consumed approximately 11.2 percent of the alcoholic drinks consumed in the United States in the past month by persons aged 12 or older. Research shows that underage drinkers tend to consume more alcohol per occasion than those over the legal minimum drinking age of 21.
The following are brief findings from the report:

Combined 2005 and 2006 data indicate that an annual average of 28.3 percent of persons aged 12 to 20 in the United States (an estimated 10.8 million persons annually) drank alcohol in the past month.

Past-month alcohol users aged 12 to 20 drank on an average of 5.9 days in the past month and consumed an average of 4.9 drinks per day on the days they drank in the past month.
Underage drinkers aged 12 to 20 consumed, on average, more drinks per day on the days they drank in the past month than persons aged 21 or older (4.9 vs. 2.8 drinks).

Download NSDUH Report:
Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use among Underage Drinkers (256 KB)
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/underage/underage.pdf

April is Alcohol Awareness Month

Source: NCADI web site

To recognize the serious problem of alcohol abuse, April is designated “Alcohol Awareness Month.” April 8 marks the annual observance of National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD). At locations across the United States, people can be screened—anonymously—to see if their drinking habits may be risky.
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If you suspect that you might have a drinking problem, or you know someone who abuses alcohol, please contact SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) at 1-800-729-6686 or find a screening site located near you.

Visit NCADI’s Alcohol Awareness page.
Visit the PIC homepage for suggested resources and links related to Alcohol Awareness Month.

Youth Drinking Prevention Less Effective in Urban Community

Source: Jointogether.org Research Summary, 3/19/2008
A model prevention program that worked well in rural communities did not achieve the same results in curbing drinking among middle-school students in an urban area, a new study finds.

Science Daily reported March 17 that researchers said that Project Northland, a prevention program that reduced alcohol use 20-30 percent over three years in rural Minnesota, had no impact on middle-schoolers in Chicago who took part in the program versus those who did not.

Study lead author Kelli A. Komro of the University of Florida College of Medicine said the negative findings in Chicago surprised researchers. “This is an important finding to realize this program was not enough,” said Komro. “The bottom line is this: Low-income children in urban areas need more, long-term intensive efforts.”

The program stressed three main messages: that drinking is unacceptable in school, at home, and in the community. The project was student-led in schools, family oriented at home, and spearheaded by neighborhood volunteers at the community level. But project leaders had difficulty getting urban community leaders engaged on the issue of youth alcohol use.

“People in these areas are concerned with housing, they’re concerned with gangs and other drug use,” Komro said. “There was a whole upfront effort where we had to educate people about how alcohol was related to those other issues, and that it was an important issue to think about with their young people.”

There was at least one positive result from the Chicago study, however: after community teams visited alcohol stores and urged owners not to sell to minors, local youth reported a 64-percent decline in their ability to buy alcohol.

The study was published online in the journal Addiction.

This article summarizes an external report or press release on research published in a scientific journal. When available, links to the sources are provided above.

CSAP Grant: STOP Act

Request for Applications (RFA) No. SP-08-004
Posting on Grants.gov: March 6, 2008
Receipt Date: April 9, 2008
Announcement Type: Initial

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2008 for Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act (STOP Act) grants.

The purpose of this program is to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth in communities throughout the United States. It was created to strengthen collaboration among communities, the Federal Government, and state, local and tribal governments; to enhance intergovernmental cooperation and coordination on the issue of alcohol use among youth; to serve as a catalyst for increased citizen participation and greater collaboration among all sectors and organizations of a community that first demonstrates a long-term commitment to reducing alcohol use among youth; and to disseminate to communities timely information regarding state-of-the-art practices and initiatives that have proven to be effective in preventing and reducing alcohol use among youth.

Download the Complete Announcement No. SP-08-004:
Download RFA in Adobe PDF Format  (614 KB)

Funding Mechanism:Grant
Due Date for Applications:April 9, 2008
Anticipated Total Available Funding:$3.93 million
Anticipated Number of Awards:Up to 80
Anticipated Award Amount:Up to $50,000 per year
Length of Project Period:Up to 4 years

NIAAA Identifies Five Subtypes of Alcohol Dependence

Source: JoinTogether.com News Summary, 6/29/07
For the first time, federal researchers have broken down the disease of alcoholism into five distinct subtypes, which experts say should help provide more targeted treatment for problem drinkers.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reported June 28 that the five new subtypes include “Young Adult,” “Young Antisocial,” “Functional,” “Intermediate Familial,” and “Chronic Severe.”

Read the NIH News Release.

New Tool Created To Help Families In The Child Welfare System

Source: SAMHSA Bulletin, 5/10/2007

Screening and Assessment for Family Engagement, Retention, and Recovery (SAFERR), a new guidebook designed to help staff of public and private agencies respond to families in the child welfare system who are affected by substance use disorders, is now available through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

SAFERR is based on the premise that when parents misuse substances and mistreat their children, the best way to make sound decisions is to draw from the resources of three key systems: child welfare, alcohol and drugs and the courts.

Order a free copy of SAFERR from NCADI by clicking here.

Study Finds Link Between Depression and First Use of Drugs or Alcohol

Source: SAMHSA Office of Applied Statistics Press Release, 5/3/2007
Youths who faced depression in the past year were twice as likely as those who did not have depression to take their first drink or use drugs for the first time, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The NSDUH Report: Depression and the Initiation of Alcohol and Other Drug Use among Youths Aged 12 to 17 showed that in 2005 2.2 million youths [8.8% of youths] experienced a major depressive episode in the past year. For these estimates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), a major depressive episode is defined as a period of two weeks or longer during which there is depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure and at least four other symptoms that reflect a change in functioning, such as problems with sleep, eating, energy, concentration and self-image.

Among youths who had not used alcohol before, 29.2 percent of those who faced depression took their first drink in the past year, while 14.5 percent of youths who did not have a major depressive episode took their first drink. And 16.1 percent of youths who faced depression and had not previously used illicit drugs began drug use; in contrast, 6.9 percent of youths who did not have a major depressive episode began drug use.

Alcohol and Tobacco

Source: NIAAA Alcohol Alerts, No.71, January 2007
Alcohol and tobacco are among the top causes of preventable deaths in the United States . Moreover, these substances often are used together: Studies have found that people who smoke are much more likely to drink, and people who drink are much more likely to smoke. Dependence on alcohol and tobacco also is correlated: People who are dependent on alcohol are three times more likely then those in the general population to be smokers, and people who are dependent on tobacco are four times more likely than the general population to be dependent on alcohol…The link between alcohol and tobacco has important implications for those in the alcohol treatment field.

• Source material for this Alcohol Alert originally appeared in Alcohol Research & Health, Volume 29, Number 3, 2006.

Acting Surgeon General Issues National Call to Action on Underage Drinking

Source: USDHHS News Release, 3/7/2007
In its first Call to Action against underage drinking, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office appealed today to Americans to do more to stop America’s 11 million current underage drinkers from using alcohol, and to keep other young people from starting.
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Although there has been a significant decline in tobacco and illicit drug use among teens, underage drinking has remained at consistently high levels. The 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates there are 11 million underage drinkers in the United States. Nearly 7.2 million are considered binge drinkers, typically meaning they drank more than five drinks on occasion, and more than two million are classified as heavy drinkers.

Developed in collaboration with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Call to Action identifies six goals.

• Read the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking.

Bill Signed To Prevent Underage Drinking

NCJRS Justice Information, 1/15/2006, 13:2
Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act (the STOP Act) establishes a federal coordinating committee to prevent underage drinking and authorizes a national media campaign, new grant programs, and research to combat underage drinking. (OJJDP)
View text of H.R. 864 [109th]: Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act