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What’s New

Communities Talk What’s New articles share information to help event organizers plan, host, and evaluate events aimed at mobilizing a community around evidence-based prevention of underage drinking.

What’s Underage Drinking Have to Do With It?

11/05/2015

For your 2016 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-supported Town Hall Meeting, knowing what’s uppermost in the minds of your target audience is the key to getting them to acknowledge underage drinking as a significant factor in the problems that concern them.

Parents may worry about reports of kids misusing prescription and over-the-counter medications. Law enforcement may be concerned about softening attitudes toward marijuana. Schools may be focused on graduation rates. You may need to help these audiences recognize the significant role that underage drinking has played in these problems in recent years:

As 2016 approaches, many Americans are struggling to understand the role of mental health problems in tragic incidents involving gun violence, but they may not be aware that underage drinking can be a contributing factor:

  • Children who have conduct/antisocial problems, or are depressed, withdrawn, or anxious may be at the greatest risk for alcohol problems, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
  • Among youth ages 12 to 17 who experienced a past-year major depressive episode (MDE) in 2004, 28.4 percent reported drinking in the past month, compared with 16.5 percent who did not experience an MDE. Read more at “The NSDUH Report: Depression Among Adolescents”.
  • Youths who had engaged in past-month heavy alcohol use were more than five times as likely to have carried a handgun in the past year compared to those who had not engaged in heavy drinking. Read more at “Youths Who Carry Handguns.”

The costs and benefits of a college education are a concern among parents and policy makers. But how many of them know how much student drinking contributes to lower academic performance, school failure, and a depressing laundry list of other negative consequences? About 25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking, including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall. Read more at College Drinking.

Every 2 years SAMHSA sponsors national Town Hall Meetings to educate and mobilize communities to prevent underage drinking. Help continue the downward trend in underage drinking by planning to host or attend a meeting in your area. Do people in your community know that alcohol contributes to suicide, the third leading cause of death for those ages 14 to 25? What about AIDS? Or is bullying your hot topic? Whatever that topic is, your 2016 SAMHSA-supported Town Hall Meeting can help your community connect the problems they care about with underage drinking, including what they can do to prevent it.

Resources To Support Prevention Efforts

New SAMHSA Report Shows Trends in Attitudes Towards Substance Use

A new annual report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides trend data on people’s perceptions of the risk of illicit substances, including alcohol. The report also examines how those perceptions may affect the likelihood of people using substances.

The report specifically looked at trends related to binge drinking and found that current binge drinking among those aged 12 and older has remained similar to past years at 23 percent, even though perception of risk from binge drinking nearly every day has decreased from 69.4 percent in 2002 to 66.1 percent in 2014. The percentage of adolescents who perceived great risk from weekly binge drinking in 2014 (39.2 percent) was similar to the percentages in most years from 2002 to 2013, while the estimates of binge alcohol use among adolescents have declined in most years between 2008 and 2014.

Additionally, the percentage of adolescents who disapprove of their peers having one or two alcoholic beverages a day rose from 84.7 percent in 2002 to 89.7 percent in 2014.

The report, Substance Risk and Protective Factors and Initiation of Substance Use: Results from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health is available on SAMHSA’s website.

NHTSA's SaferRide App Helps Keep Drunk Drivers Off Roads

Every 52 minutes, someone in the United States dies from a crash involving a drunk driver. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) SaferRide app helps keep drunk drivers off the road by allowing users to call a taxi or friend by identifying a location where they need to be picked up.

The app gives users three options:

  • Choose from a list of available taxi services in your area and call the taxi directly from the app.
  • Call a pre-programed contact.
  • Collect a map of your current location.

This app is available for free for Android and iPhone devices. Learn more about SaferRide from NHTSA.

The Ultimate Party Foul: New PSA Campaign to Prevent Underage Drinking and Driving

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Ad Council joined together to launch a new public service announcement campaign, “The Ultimate Party Foul” that targets new drivers between the ages of 16 and 17 to remind them that it is illegal to drive with any amount of alcohol in their systems. Underage drinking and driving can lead to fines, community service, and loss of a license. The campaign urges teen drivers to designate a sober driver, call a cab, or stay the night. Learn more about the campaign here.