Differences in brand-specific alcohol consumption among youth by age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status -- United States, 2011

Background: Although the Institute of Medicine has called for national surveys to measure the brands of alcohol that youth consume, to date there has been no research reporting national data on brand-specific alcohol consumption among youth. Understanding the patterns in youth alcohol brand use by age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status would help us understand the factors that influence youth alcohol use. Methods: We conducted what we believe is the first comprehensive survey of alcohol brand use among a sample of approximately 1000 youth ages 13-20 recruited from an existing youth internet panel. The survey was conducted using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Participants are chosen by a random selection of telephone numbers and residential addresses. The survey measured each subject's use of each of 898 different brands of alcoholic beverages during the past 30 days. Results: This presentation will summarize the descriptive epidemiology of brand-specific alcohol use among underage youth, with results stratified by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. We will present the prevalence of alcoholic beverage use by brand and the market share by volume of each type and brand of alcoholic beverage, stratified by each of the demographic categories. Conclusion: Since alcohol marketing occurs by brand, understanding the descriptive epidemiology of youth alcohol brand use provides clues to major factors, including marketing strategies, that influence the uptake of drinking and progression of alcohol use among underage youth.