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Higher Drinking Age Linked to Less Binge Drinking, Except in College Students

New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 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.

The researchers, led by Richard A. Grucza, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry, analyzed data gathered between 1979 and 2006 by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The information comes from more than 500,000 subjects, and the researchers divided them into groups, according to age, sex, ethnicity, and student status.

"We found that overall, binge drinking is less common than it once was," Grucza says. "Young men account for the majority of binge drinkers, and their rates have dropped substantially since 1979. However, at the same time, the 'gender gap' between male and female drinkers has been closing. In this study, we found that women are drinking more, and their rates of binge drinking have risen over the last 30 years."

In 2006, the last year for which the data were analyzed, more than one half of college-age males, and almost 40% of college-age females reported binge drinking. But the researchers found reductions in binge drinking, especially among boys and young men aged 20 and younger. In males aged 15 to 17, binge-drinking rates declined nearly 50% between 1979 and 2006. During the same period, rates declined more than 20% in males aged 18 to 20 and 10% in males aged 21 to 23.

In women aged 15 to 20 on the other hand, binge drinking was statistically unchanged since 1979. For women 21 to 23, binge drinking rose by about 40%.

— Source: Washington University School of Medicine