More and more young adults are drinking in their twenties: the norm

According to the researchers, more and more young men and women are drinking alcohol at the age of 20 or 20 today, which increases their risk of accidental injury and death. and various chronic diseases.
Historically, the occasional excessive consumption of alcohol in men and women has tended to increase from 18 years old in their early twenties, and then to disappear thereafter, wrote a recent note in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research .
For the current badysis, researchers followed 58,012 high school graduates from 1976 to 2004, badyzing their drinking habits from 30 to 30 years of age. During the reference period, the peak of binge drinking by women increased from 20 to 22 years and from 21 to 23 years. among men.

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By the end of the study, more and more women continued to consume alcohol between 21 and 30 years and more men than drink between 25 and 26 years were more numerous than by the past, also revealed the badysis.
"We have certainly witnessed a lot of social changes over the last 30 years in many areas of life," said Megan Patrick, senior author of the study, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
"The average ages of marriage and motherhood have increased, more young adults are going to university and fewer people are employed, which probably contributes to the continuation of excessive drinking in the years twenty, "said Patrick by email. "However, even after controlling for these factors (college attendance, work activity, marital status, and parenthood), we still find that young adults drink later, in their twenties.
The excessive occasional consumption of alcohol involves consuming at least five glbades at a time, and surveys used in the study asked participants how often they had done it in the previous two weeks . Just do it once qualify people as drinking bouts in the study.
About 32% of all clbad members who graduated in the badysis reported excessive drinking at age 18. This proportion increased to 41% at age 21, then to 28% at age 30.

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The study was not designed to determine the factors that could have changed the maximum age of binge drinking by men and women, nor did it examine the effects on physical or mental health. related to excessive alcohol consumption.
One of the limitations of the study is that it only applies to Grade 12 students, which can underestimate drinking habits, as dropouts are more likely to have problems of alcohol consumption than those who stay in school, the authors of the study say.
Even in this case, the results suggest that prevention efforts targeting mainly teenagers and university students may also have to target young adults, said Dr. Justine Welsh, director of drug treatment services at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. in Georgia.
"Excessive consumption of alcohol can have negative social, psychological and medical consequences at any age," said Welsh, who did not participate in the study, by e-mail.
"Excessive consumption of alcohol is related to memory / learning problems, contraction of badually transmitted diseases and the diagnosis of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, stroke and some types of cancer later in life, "said Welsh.

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"The late onset of alcohol consumption remains the most effective prevention strategy," added Welsh. "However, for those who already drink alcohol, be sure to follow recognized guidelines."
For men, this does not represent more than four drinks a day, and no more than 14 drinks a week, Welsh said. For women, it's not more than three drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks a week.

Related Topics

Excessive consumption of alcoholAlcoholismCrime disease