BOSTON – New data from a youth health survey administered by the Mass. Department of Public Health and the Mass. Department of Education show the number of adolescents drinking and abusing alcohol has declined, Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray announced April 3.
The survey found that the average age when young people first drank alcohol rose from 12 years old in 2004 to 13 in 2007. The share of youngsters who reported drinking alcohol in the previous month also dropped substantially between 2004 and 2007, for both middle school students (22.8 percent to 10.8 percent), and high school students (54.7 percent to 43.6 percent).
The survey also found a sharp drop in the share of adolescents who reported ever using alcohol, from 51 percent to 23 percent among middle school students and from 84 percent to 66 percent among high school students.
“While this is good news about alcohol use among adolescents, we know we have more work to do,” Murray said in a statement. “The best way to protect young people from the dangers of alcohol abuse is to prevent the abuse and use of alcohol from ever happening in the first place.”
Along with releasing the survey results, Murray last week kicked off a statewide effort to prevent underage drinking. With funding from U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, the Department of Public Health will sponsor “town hall” meetings in 49 communities across the state, bringing together young people, parents and municipal leaders to highlight proven community strategies to combat underage drinking.
“Our goal is to send a wake-up call that underage drinking involves significant risk to young people,” DPH Commissioner John Auerbach said in the news release. “We want to encourage parents to recognize the importance of initiating and continuing a dialogue with their children on this important public health issue.”
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says individuals who began drinking before the age of 15 were four times more likely to report meeting the criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their lives.
More information on the new campaign is available from the Mass. Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and the Mass. Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Services at www.mass.gov/dph/bsas.
