Hindered Decision-Making Abilities

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Consequences: Introduction

Impaired Brain Development

Slowed Motor Skills

Difficulty Learning New Concepts/Ideas

Hindered Decision-Making Abilities

Weakened Athletic Performance

Health-Related Issues

Alcoholism as Adults

Legal Repercussions

Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS)

Evaluation, Management and Training Associates (EMT)

Alcopops Summary Report

Facts On Adolescent Binge Drinking › Consequences › Hindered Decision-Making Abilities

Hindered Decision-Making Abilities

Binge drinking has been associated with a variety of risky behaviors. When adolescents binge drink, their cognitive and motor skills are impaired. This leads to impairment in one’s decision-making abilities, with risky, often dangerous behaviors such as unwanted or unsafe sexual activity, drunk driving, violence, or illegal drug use as a result.

Unwanted/unsafe sexual activity

Forty percent of 13 and 14 year olds reported being “drunk or stoned” when they experienced their first sexual intercourse.
After binge drinking, one in seven 16–24 year olds have had unprotected sex, one in five have had sex they later regretted, and one in ten have been unable to remember if they had sex the night before.

Drunk driving

Among teenage males and females, the risk of self- reported impaired driving rises significantly with the frequency of binge drinking.
Young binge drinkers account for a large proportion of alcohol-related accidents and fatal traffic accidents.
33% of binge drinking 11th graders reported three or more instances of drinking and driving involvement, more than twice those of non-binge drinkers (15%). Seven or more episodes were reported by 16% of binge drinkers.
Driving under the influence varied by age group in 2004. An estimated 10.2% of 16 or 17 year olds, 20.2% of 18 to 20 year olds, and 28.2% of 21 to 25 year olds reported driving under the influence of alcohol. Beyond age 25, these rates declined with increasing age.

Zero tolerance laws, which make it illegal for youth under age 21 years to drive with any measurable amount of alcohol in their system (i.e., with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) ≥0.02 g/dL), have reduced traffic fatalities among 18 to 20 year olds by 13% and saved an estimated 21,887 lives from 1975 through 2002.

Fights or other violent offences

Young binge drinkers are almost three times more likely to report committing an offense than those who drink but do not normally get drunk, and five times more likely than non-drinkers of the same age. The differences are particularly marked for fights and other violent offences.
Eleventh-grade bingers were about 2.5 times as likely as nondrinkers (and 1.5 times as likely as non-binge drinkers) to report taking a weapon to school, damaging school property, participating in a fight between groups, or being hit by a boy/girlfriend.

Illegal drugs

Young binge drinkers are substantially more likely than non-binge drinkers to take illegal drugs.
Frequency of drunkenness is associated with taking the most commonly used illegal drugs, particularly amphetamine and cocaine.
Nearly half (49%) of bingers reported current marijuana use, eight times the rate for current nondrinkers (6%). 35% had sold drugs to someone, vs. 7% for nondrinkers.

Suicidal Behavior

Heavy binge drinking has been associated with considering, planning, attempting, and completing suicide. In one study, 37% of 8th grade females who drank heavily reported attempting suicide, compared with 11% who did not drink. Research does not indicate whether drinking causes suicidal behavior, only that the two behaviors are correlated.

Total Problems
Because of their relative inexperience with alcohol and low body weight, young binge drinkers are expectedly highly vulnerable to a variety of alcohol-related problems. Bingers were 1.5 times more likely to report at least one of 11 alcohol-related negative consequences than non-binge current drinkers. More than half of these bingers reported two or more negative consequences, almost three times the rate for other current drinkers. For many of the specific problems, the binge-drinker rates were five to six times higher.

Alcohol-Related Problems among Binge and Non-Binge Current Drinkers

	Binge Drinkers			Non-Binge
	Total (%)	Fem (%)	Male (%)	Total (%)
Pass out/forget	35	40	29	6
Health problems	18	23	14.5	4.5
Trouble w/ police	19	18	19	3
Money problems	7	2	12	2
Trouble w/ schoolwork	9	8	11	2
Fighting	14	10	15	2
Damage friendship	11	13	5	2
Physically hurt	14	17	8	1.5
Unwanted/protected sex	17	20	14	2.5
One plus problems	59	64	54	17
Two plus problems	37	42	30	6

Risk Behaviors* by Alcohol Use Status, Past 30 Days, 11th Graders

	Binge Drinker (%)	Other Drinker (%)	No Alcohol (%)
Missed/cut school	83	70	51
Used marijuana	49	31	6
Sold drugs	35	15	7
Carry weapon/school	23	14	9
School vandalism	31	20	13
Group fight	29.5	20	13
Hit by boy/girlfriend	15	8	6

* All past 12 months except marijuana use, which is past 30 days.

Within the state of California, approximately 9% of males and 9% of females aged 16 to 17 have a serious alcohol problem. Endangering and alarming behaviors correlate with this level of alcohol use; these youth are:

11 times more likely than other youth to have serious problems with other drugs
10 times more likely to drink and drive
5 times more likely to commit suicide
4 times more likely to be in a serious fight
4 times more likely to be arrested
3.5 times more likely to carry a weapon
3 times more likely to be hospitalized for a mental health problem
3 times more likely to have a conduct disorder
2 times more likely to get into an accident, injure, or poison themselves
2 times more likely to have a “C” average or lower
likely to miss twice as much school
almost twice as likely to have multiple sex partners
1.5 times more likely to require emergency room care

References

Library Watch on Substance Use and the College Campus. Fall 2002. http://www.projectcork.org/newsletters/library_watch/2002/fall/html/College.html