BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. government said the prevalence of drinking among youth has stabilized and is not increasing, but the rate is still too high.
An analysis of youth drinking trends over the past several decades by researchers at the National Institutes of Health shows underage drinking rates stabilized in the early 1990s after a steady decrease since the 1970s.
Current rates indicate 20 percent of 8th graders and 49 percent of 12th graders have used alcohol in the past 30 days, according to the study published in the September issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
Approximately 12 percent of 8th graders and 30 percent of 12th graders said they had drank five or more drinks in one setting in the past two weeks.
"Much remains to be done to get those numbers moving down again," said Vivian Faden, who is with the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and one of the researchers involved in the study. "We need to re-examine the approaches we have taken to prevent underage drinking, so that in another 10 years we can report a downturn in this high-prevalence behavior instead of a stable situation."
