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International Drinking Age Laws and Their Relationship with Teenage Drinking Behavior, Attitudes, and Consequences
METHODS: A school-based survey was conducted over four years, in 22 countries, among 28,526 9th-12thgrade students. Students self-reported alcohol use, attitudes and related consequences. Distinctions were made between adolescents in countries with a drinking age <21 years, and those in countries with a drinking age of 21 years. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between legal drinking age, alcohol consumption, consequences, and attitudes towards use.
RESULTS: Relative to students in countries with a drinking age of 21 years, those in countries with a drinking age <21 years were more likely to report consuming ≥5 drinks in a row in the past 30 days (OR 2.8, 95% CI 2.7, 3.0), and report getting drunk in the past 30 days (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.8, 2.1). Adolescents in countries with a drinking age <21 years were more likely to think “it’s cool to get drunk,” (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5, 1.7), less likely to see moderate or great risk in drinking ≥5 drinks once or twice each weekend (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.6, 0.7), and more likely to experience alcohol-related injury in the past 12 months (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.6, 1.9).
CONCLUSION: Increased prevention services and advocacy are needed to reduce the risky drinking behavior and consequences associated with drinking age laws in countries where the drinking age is <21 years.
Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health educationAssessment of individual and community needs for health education
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Compare alcohol consumption among high school students in countries where the drinking age is below the age of 21, to those students in countries where the drinking age is 21.
Discuss how laws affect the cultural climate of drinking for teenagers.
Differentiate the magnitude of negative consequences among adolescents across countries with varying drinking age laws.
Keyword(s): Adolescents, Alcohol Use
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the manager of multiple databases, both domestically and internationally. For the past four years, I have conducted data analyses on substance abuse prevention among adolescents, spanning 22 countries. I have a Master of Health Science in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.