<p>Rates of alcoholism, alcohol abuse, liver cancer, cirrhosis, binge drinking, and heavy drinking are higher - usually MUCH higher – in every single northern European country.</p>
<p>^^ Really? I’d love to see the statistics. What about France, Spain and Italy? Any difference there? Because I was thinking that it was more like post #13, but perhaps I’m wrong. I was raised by southern European immigrants, and we’ve always had wine around, but I never saw anyone drunk. (In fact, my mom says that the first time she ever saw anyone inebriated was when the Americans liberated her town, and the soldiers were celebrating!) My D spent a month with a French family when she was 15, and went out with the kids her age every day. She said everybody drank, but no one got drunk. That has been our experience traveling through France, Spain and Italy.</p>
<p>In any case, clearly we are doing something wrong regarding drinking in the U.S.</p>
<p>When DD went on a short exchange to Germany, the kids–led by the Germans–all went out and got drunk. DD said she went with them to buy more alcohol because the Germans were so looped that she was afraid the would get hit crossing the streets. It was a bunch of 16 and 17-year-olds.</p>
<p>I did a quick google search : rates of drinking in european countries. I was surprised to discover lots of evidence to back up mini. I would have never suspected. The particular report I was reading was from 2003 and was comparing drinking rates in 15-16 yr olds. The only country with a lower rate of drinking than the US in this age range was Turkey. And, they were referring to intoxication and binge drinking, not just drinking wine with the family. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.udetc.org/documents/CompareDrinkRate.pdf[/url]”>www.udetc.org/documents/CompareDrinkRate.pdf</a></p>
<p>I sure hope we figure this out before we lose more of our precious young people (and adults).</p>
<p>My kids have been to soccer tournaments in Europe and found the German teams all drank and smoked - as young as 12.</p>
<p>One thing that hasn’t been addressed in this thread is that today there is so much more awareness of the dangers of alcohol poisoning, so taking a highly intoxicated friend to the ER as a precaution is not uncommon. I’m not saying there was less or more binge drinking when I was in college (in the late 70s), but I don’t remember anyone ever being taken to the hospital because they’d had too much to drink. People got very drunk, passed out, and “slept it off,” with no one guessing that death, coma or brain damage was a possible alternative outcome. Obviously we were lucky in that we didn’t personally experience any other outcomes among my extended group of friends. </p>
<p>I do think my peer group experienced a lot more drunk driving-related deaths, injuries and accidents than young people today, due to increased awareness (and enforcement) today.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think the uniform drinking age has something to do with that as well.</p>
<p>“I think the whole 21 years-old law is utter nonsense.”</p>
<p>Researchers might disagree. </p>
<p>“New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found substantial reductions in binge drinking since the national drinking age was set at 21 two decades ago, with one exception: college students. The rates of binge drinking in male collegians remain unchanged, but the rates in female collegians have increased dramatically.”</p>
<p>[Higher</a> Drinking Age Linked To Less Binge Drinking – Except In College Students](<a href=“http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622163033.htm]Higher”>Higher Drinking Age Linked To Less Binge Drinking -- Except In College Students -- ScienceDaily)</p>
<p>^In other words, in the subset of the 18-21 population that historically drinks the most, the policy has increased binge drinking?</p>
<p>Can we link that study that Claremarie posted to the corresponding rate of women going to college during the same years? Just from the schools we have looked at, there are far more women in college these days then men which is a decline for men from the 70’s and a HUGE increase of women going to college.</p>
<p>It’s not as simple as that. Binge drinking has doubled among women in the UK over the past decade. [Binge</a> drinking Britain: surge in women consuming harmful amounts of alcohol | Society | The Guardian](<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/06/binge-drinking-women]Binge”>Binge drinking Britain: surge in women consuming harmful amounts of alcohol | Alcohol | The Guardian). It’s an enormous public health and safety issue. Here is a glimpse. [Binge</a> drinking: Why do intelligent women drink to oblivion every night? | Mail Online](<a href=“Binge drinking: Why do intelligent women drink to oblivion every night? | Daily Mail Online”>Binge drinking: Why do intelligent women drink to oblivion every night? | Daily Mail Online)</p>
<p>There are similar increases among college women in the US (but, interestingly, not among college men). </p>
<p>Lots of good resources at this site. [Binge</a> Drinking Increasing Among Young Women](<a href=“http://www.collegebingedrinking.net/binge-drinking-increasing-among-young-women.html]Binge”>http://www.collegebingedrinking.net/binge-drinking-increasing-among-young-women.html)</p>
<p>
The differences in effects and their ramifications depends on which effects you are looking at. The message should not be that it’s more ok for men to binge drink, or that somehow they don’t have negative effects to worry about. It isn’t about “keeping up with men”. Making it about some kind of feminist agenda is not helpful.</p>
<p>The message should be that binge drinking is bad for everyone, but that women have more to lose than men.<br>
Because it’s the truth.</p>
<p>Really? I’d love to see the statistics. What about France, Spain and Italy?"</p>
<p>There is SO much data on this question - here’s just a tip of the iceberg:</p>
<p>[U.S</a>. drinks the lowest amount of alcohol in the developed world, figures reveal | Mail Online](<a href=“U.S. drinks the lowest amount of alcohol in the developed world, figures reveal | Daily Mail Online”>U.S. drinks the lowest amount of alcohol in the developed world, figures reveal | Daily Mail Online)
[New</a> research says alcohol causes one in 10 European deaths | Society | The Guardian](<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/26/alcohol-disease-death-rate-europe]New”>New research says alcohol causes one in 10 European deaths | Alcohol | The Guardian)
[Drinking</a> Facts: Alcohol Problems Around the World - The Daily Beast](<a href=“Drinking Facts: Alcohol Problems Around the World”>Drinking Facts: Alcohol Problems Around the World)
[Are</a> there fewer alcohol-related problems in countries where youth are allowed to drink at earlier ages? | Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention](<a href=“http://www.higheredcenter.org/services/assistance/faq/are-there-fewer-alcohol-related-problems-countries-where-youth-are-allowed-d]Are”>http://www.higheredcenter.org/services/assistance/faq/are-there-fewer-alcohol-related-problems-countries-where-youth-are-allowed-d)
<a href=“http://www.udetc.org/documents/CompareDrinkRate.pdf[/url]”>http://www.udetc.org/documents/CompareDrinkRate.pdf</a></p>
<p>There is so much more. There’s a later set of data from USDOJ on this issue, but I don’t have it at home.</p>
<p>A 2011 study compared Australian youth who drink with their parents v. those who did not - and the results were that those who “learned to drink” with their parents were far more likely to drink to excess, binge drink, or have “problems with drinking”. If I have time, I’ll run down the cite.</p>
<p>Last month my son’s school had a blog about binge drinking on its Parents Page. They also distributed it by email to the parents. Here it is for anyone who’s interested: [A</a> Very Good Reason to Call Your Students Today | Parents | Wake Forest University](<a href=“http://parents.wfu.edu/2012/01/a-very-good-reason-to-call-your-students-today/]A”>A Very Good Reason to Call Your Students Today - Parents & Families)</p>
<p>
Wrong on so many levels.</p>
<p>Why is it important to let 10 yo’s drink liquor in Europe? I’m not some uptight American, I just don’t see a health benefit - for anybody - to drink. Especially children. Obviously we do a lot of things that aren’t healthy, but why encourage drinking for young children when they can’t metabolize the liquor? It’s not only not healthy, it’s uhealthy. What’s this teaching them how to handle their liquor? Why are they seen as being so sophisticated - it sounds like a huge health crisis to me. Statistics show no child drinks less each year.</p>
<p>“Wrong on so many levels.”</p>
<p>IMO, attitudes like this are partly responsible for many problems with alcohol abuse on campus. If parents have their heads in the sand – either through culpable ignorance or some misplaced feminist notions – and university administrators tiptoe around this issue, how on earth are young women supposed to understand the true nature of the risks of binge drinking and to avoid this activity? </p>
<p>“Although men are more likely to drink alcohol and drink in larger amounts, gender differences in body structure and chemistry cause women to absorb more alcohol, and take longer to break it down and remove it from their bodies (i.e., to metabolize it). In other words, upon drinking equal amounts, women have higher alcohol levels in their blood than men, and the immediate effects occur more quickly and last longer. These differences also make women more vulnerable to alcohol’s long-term effects on their health.1”</p>
<p>[CDC</a> - Fact Sheets-Excessive Alcohol Use And Women’s Health - Alcohol](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/womens-health.htm]CDC”>Excessive Alcohol Use and Risks to Women's Health | CDC)</p>
<p>The 21-year-old drinking age is not “American Puritanism” but sound policy based on medical research that brain tissue in adolescents is more susceptible to damage from alcohol exposure.</p>
<p>[With</a> Drinking, Parent Rules Do Affect Teens’ Choices : NPR](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127222042]With”>With Drinking, Parent Rules Do Affect Teens' Choices : NPR)</p>
<p>As this story and others cited by above posters have pointed out, there is no evidence to support the notion that exposing children to alcohol at an early age will make them less susceptible to alcohol abuse – in fact the opposite seems to be true.</p>
<p>As a college RA, I haven’t really observed the supposed general trend that those who are not exposed to alcohol suddenly go wild in college. I’m sure there are a few cases of this happening, but in general, my hardest partiers were partiers back in high school, and my tamest kids have never really partied much at all. If anything, the problem just gets worse because those who were already drinking now have a much easier time doing it in a manner that is unsupervised, and better pass for being of-age. The only thing that seems to happen is that some people just get tired of the scene and grow out of it. </p>
<p>I have witnessed firsthand how bad the situation with alcohol abuse is on campus. I have had to call an ambulance for a completely unresponsive resident, and so have many of my fellow RAs. Other than that, there is rampant vandalism in the building on weekends and a lot of the low-rises where there are communal bathrooms will have issues with vomit. </p>
<p>Funnily enough, it isn’t really in the building where it is a problem. Generally, if there is drinking getting out of hand it is loud enough that we know it is happening, though some students do quietly “pre-game” in their rooms most likely. What most students do is go to the bars though, and they are not at all diligent about checking IDs. I have overheard many of my residents talking about having fakes and they seldom ever get caught. The whole culture is really crazy, because they’ll get drunk before they even go out, and then continue to drink once they’re at the bar, supposedly to save money on alcohol since the drinks at the bar are more expensive. When Four Lokos were popular, they were a big problem on campus, because the students liked to drink one or two of them before going out (since they were so cheap) and then they would continue to drink at the bar. </p>
<p>Now, there’s a big thing in my college town with t-shirts. At several bars in town, you can “do a t-shirt,” which basically entails paying to drink a dangerous amount of alcohol, and if you finish within a certain designated time frame, the establishment gives you a t-shirt. For some, doing a t-shirt is a rite of passage, and for us RAs, it’s a mess because we get dangerously drunk students coming back to us at all hours of the night (some of whom started drinking before they even went out). </p>
<p>There’s a lot more to this than a drinking age. I really think it has more to do with the college culture at large, and how this is portrayed in our popular media. Just look at alcohol advertising, which is basically all implicitly stating that drinking will make you young, fun, and attractive.</p>