The impact of Binge Drinking on the health of Youths can be highly severe, causing serious health, personal and social problems to the individuals. With any harmful fixation there are short term harms and long term harms:
Short Term Harms:
Short term harms can include things such as Injuries from violence, pedestrian and road accidents (can result in death/severe injury), drowning, trauma related admissions to hospital emergency departments. Alcohol poisoning, social and personal consequences such as the impact on families and social embarrassment, loss of valuable items and in many cases having unprotected sex and placing yourself at greater risk of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and/or an unwanted pregnancy.
Long Term Harms:
Long term harms can include issues such as Social problems, such as spending more time drinking than pursuing other interests, brain damage, including the inability to learn and remember things, depression and suicidal thoughts, the development of chronic disease, including some cancers and heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver and in many cases a dependence on alcohol which has caused all this harm.
With saying all these apparent Harms, they ultimately lead to a potential increase in Mortality rate amongst Youth's which is both alarming and horrifying, as well as an increased risk of many causes of morbidity. Individuals who develop physical and mental health problems are often left with an increase in DALY’S (Disability Adjusted Life Years). If a Youth has developed an addiction to alcohol and it may have lead to causing them mental, social and physical health problems it can lead to a decrease in Life Expectancy, which is the last thing a Teenager wants to hear.
Percentage of the population aged 14 years and over at risk of harm
in the long term by age group, 2001 and 2007:
Abstinent % Low risk % Risky % High risk %
2001 (2007) 2001 (2007) 2001 (2007) 2001 (2007)
14-19 26.2 (29.0) 62.1 (62.2) 8.0 (5.6) 3.7 (3.2)
20-29 9.9 (12.9) 75.4 (71.1) 10.2 (10.2) 4.5 (5.8)
30-39 13.0 (12.2) 78.3 (77.5) 6.3 (7.0) 2.5 (3.3)
40-49 13.9 (12.4) 76.5 (76.8) 7.1 (7.7) 2.6 (3.1)
50-59 17.1 (14.0) 73.3 (75.6) 6.6 (6.5) 2.9 (3.9)
60+ 27.1 (24.7) 66.8 (68.9) 4.4 (4.8) 1.6 (1.6)
From this data it is clear that the prevalence of individuals over the age of 14 taking part in either risky and high risk drinking has decreased impressively between the years of 2001 and 2007. The Graph above shows of the decreasing trend in excessive alcohol drinking which is a great aspect and could primarily be through the use and success of anti binge drinking campaigns over the years.
This bar graph clearly shows the trends of binge drinking over the years between 1991 and 2012, overall the trend has significantly decreased 13%. Although during this time span there are many occasions when the numbers have increased back to more alarming rates of 41-42. There appears to be spikes in the graph during the years 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2007. Among college students the long term gradual decline across all prevalence rates measured decreased from 1991 to 2012.
According to the 2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey,
Approximately 40% of 14-19 year olds drink at levels that risk harm in the short-term like accident and injury. In addition, young people aged 18-24 years have the riskiest drinking patterns with almost two-thirds drinking at a risky or high risk level for harm in the short term.
From this statistics showing alarming levels of consumption, it is clear to readers that the incidence rate or frequency of excessive consumption or binge drinking increases with age. From 14-19 year olds to the grouping 18-24 year olds, the level increases from 40% to 66%, which is a clear indication of an increasing trend. This could be due to many reasons, alcohol being legally available and becomes more socially accepted by peers of similar ages being just two.