Rural Communities and Teenage Drinking

Each year in the United States, underage drinking is responsible for the loss of millions of dollars in property damage, as well as loss of life. Teenagers who drink are at risk for a number of negative consequences, including teenage pregnancy, poor grades and sexually transmitted diseases. Studies and statistics indicate that demographics and perception do play a role in underage alcohol consumption rates. Generally speaking, youths living in rural areas self-report higher incidences of underage drinking.

Age

• According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), youths between the ages of 12 and 17 living in rural areas are as likely or more likely to consume alcohol than youths living in nonrural areas. Rural teenagers between the ages of 18 and 20, however, are less likely to consume alcohol than their urban counterparts. One explanation for this is that more colleges are located in urban areas. The 2004 NSDUH survey found that youths in rural areas are more likely to engage in binge drinking (21 percent) compared to youths living in more populated areas (19 percent). The NSDUH defines binge drinking as consuming "five or more drinks on the same occasion."

  Statistics from Oregon's Addictions and Mental Health Services indicate youths who drink usually take their first drink before the age of 15. Girls in the 8th grade are more likely to get alcohol from friends than their same-age male counterparts. Oregon's statistics indicate that teenage drinking is on the rise: Between the years of 2001 and 2005, alcohol use among females in the 8th grade increased by 8.2 percent.

Gender

• Males living in rural areas reported consuming more alcohol than males living in urban areas. There was no difference in self-reported alcohol consumption rates in females based on geographic living location, according to the NSDUH.

Race

• Hispanic youths living in rural areas reported higher rates of alcohol consumption than their white rural counterparts. The rate of binge drinking was almost double for Hispanic youths in rural areas. White youths living in rural areas reported fewer incidences of drinking than did their white peers living in nonrural locations. However, incidences of binge drinking were statistically similar. Binge and past-month drinking were about the same for blacks living in rural and nonrural areas.

Perceptions

• Perception plays a role in whether or not underage individuals are likely to consume alcohol, according to the NSDUH survey. Teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 reported they were subject to less parental disapproval and perceived less risk from drinking than youths living in more populated areas. The perception of low risk applies to occasional and binge-drinking habits.

Risk Factors

• The NSDUH survey results show students living in rural areas who received higher marks on their report card (A's and B's) reported higher incidences of past-month or binge drinking than students living in urban areas earning the same grades. Students living in rural areas with lower grades reported a slightly higher level of binge drinking than their city-dwelling counterparts.

Alcohol Source

• The data on alcohol source is the same for rural and urban youths. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) survey "The 2004 NSDUH Report, Underage Alcohol Use: Where Do Young People Get Alcohol?", of the 10.8 million underage drinkers in the U.S., 26.4 percent of the youths obtained the alcohol from a legal-age friend. Approximately 14 percent got the alcohol from an underage friend, while 14.4 percent reported getting the alcohol from a parent, guardian or other relative of legal age. The majority (30.6 percent) of underage drinkers, however, reported purchasing their alcohol.