Underage drinking: Prevalence, gender differences, and environmental factors

Underage and binge drinking have been concerns for many health professionals and family scientists. Especially among college students, the prevalence of binge drinking remained unchanged over the past three decades and the risk among female college students has increased. In order to examine the prevalence of and factors associated with underage drinking, an online survey was conducted at a mid-size university in the Midwest. Of the 1,233 respondents, participants aged 20 or younger (M=18.7495, SD= .76728) were selected for the current study (N = 1,014). Three quarters (78.2%) were females and 88.6% were Whites. Only 20.1% of the participants reported that they were absolute nondrinkers and 5.4% were rare drinkers (less than 5 times a year) while 42.7% were regular drinkers (once a week or more). While no gender difference was found in drinking status, men were more likely to engage in binge-drinking than were women. Of the drinkers, 30.0% began drinking at age 15 or younger, 23.5% at age 16, and 21.1% at age 17. Age of drinking initiation, drinking frequency, alcohol consumption per episode, and binge-drinking frequency were significantly correlated. When both parents engaged in drinking, participants were more likely to engage in drinking at age 17 or younger. Conversely, they were more likely to be nondrinkers when neither the father nor the mother drank. Further, socio-economic status and neighborhood environments accounted for 54.5% of the variance in the age of drinking initiation. Implications and possible explanations of the findings are discussed.