We Need to Delay the Age of Onset of Alcohol Consumption

Abstract

In recent years, new consumption patterns, such as binge drinking, have increased among young people and have not always been recognized as problematic either by health personnel or by society in general, as they are intensive episodes, interspersed with no consumption periods. Although the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in the adult population continues to be higher in men than in women, these gender differences in relation to alcohol consumption are barely observed in adolescents between 14 and 18. Therefore, we are witnessing a change in the pattern of consumption, from regular to episodic, and an attenuation of gender differences. New patterns of alcohol consumption have not only been associated with an increased risk of alcohol use disorders in adult life, but also with neurocognitive involvement in youth. Understanding the risk and resilience factors of alcoholism or problematic drinking patterns will not only allow us to identify the most vulnerable group, but also to guide prevention programs towards protective factors; the skills that contribute to the natural abandonment of the pattern. Knowing the variables involved in the trajectories of abandonment and dependency would contribute to personalizing the interventions and increasing their efficacy and success—a lower relapse rate—, reducing the economic and socio-sanitary costs associated with alcohol dependency, as well as improving the health and well-being, family relations, work and social status of alcohol-dependent people.

The association between early onset of alcohol, smokeless tobacco and marijuana use with adult binge drinking in United States

“…Onset of alcohol use was the strongest, following smokeless tobacco, and marijuana use the least. The current study aligns with previous ndings that the earlier onset of alcohol drinking, the more likely these individuals are to develop binge drinking and other alcohol use related problems [10,24]. However, some previous studies had contradicted ndings.…”

“…Another noteworthy limitation to the interpretation of our results is that the study failed to take age of rst intoxication by alcohol into consideration. While age of onset of alcohol use has been identi ed as an independent risk factor of binge drinking, previous studies [10,30] suggest that delay to intoxication may be an important determinant of negative alcohol use outcome and should be considered in the modelling. Although the NSDUH includes various substance use information, the study only includes the main three substances which are the most prevalent among binge drinking population.…”

“…According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data, almost 30% of adults ages 18 and older reported binge drinking in the past month [7]. Previous studies have suggested that the root of adulthood binge drinking might exist in the early onset of substance use [8][9][10]. The trajectory of substance use is often progressively developed in stages, from no use to initiation and escalation, ongoing to regular drinking and smoking behavior, and nally to binge drinking [11].…”

Alcohol Consumption among Freshman College Students in Spain: Individual and Pooled Analyses of Three Cross-Sectional Surveys (2005, 2012 and 2016)

“…It is noticeable the delay in the age of onset of alcohol use from the age of 15 to 16 in 2016. Considering that an earlier age of onset has been found as a risk factor for RC and HED patterns [ 51 , 52 ], this delay should protect students against risky drinking behaviors. The effect of the age of alcohol onset was high in the three study periods, but the greatest effect was observed in 2016.…”

The association between early onset of alcohol, smokeless tobacco and marijuana use with adult binge drinking in United States

“…According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data, almost 30% of adults ages 18 and older reported binge drinking in the past month 12 . The majority of previous studies, including some large-scale studies 13 , have established that early onset of drinking is a known risk factor for adulthood heavy drinking 14 – 16 . However, some inconsistent study findings suggested little to no evidence for this association, which might be contributed to different operational definitions of alcohol onset 15 , 17 .…”