on Facebook
on Twitter
on YouTube
Document Information
Teenage Alcohol Misuse
A Big Problem and a Different Solution
It is well known that by the time they are seniors, almost all U.S. high-school students have tried alcohol, many drink with some regularity, and a substantial number drink either frequently or in quantity. However, despite its importance, alcohol misuse among adolescents has not been carefully characterized beyond simple frequency and quantity measures, particularly in youth populations that include highschool dropouts.
A recent study by Phyllis Ellickson and her colleagues in the Drug Policy Research Center provides such a characterization. The research confirms the pervasive nature of teenage drinking and indicates that alcohol misuse may be more of a problem than previously imagined. A second study demonstrates that drinking by teens, unlike their use of illicit drugs, is more strongly associated with sociability than with antisocial behavior. Together, the findings suggest that attempts to control teen alcohol consumption should focus less on prevention of initiation or any use and more on prevention of misuse.
See Also:
Links to online versions of this document are available below.
Free, downloadable PDF file(s) are available below.
RAND makes an electronic version of this document available for free as a public service.
Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 or higher for the best experience.
This product is part of the RAND Corporation research brief series. RAND research briefs present policy-oriented summaries of individual published, peer-reviewed documents or of a body of published work.
Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
* RAND research is conducted across divisions, centers, and projects; these organizational components are represented in the "Related RAND Divisions" section above.
Top
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2009 RAND Corporation. Last Modified: July 29, 2009 