Early use of alcohol linked to increased dependency

A new study finds that people who begin drinking at an early age are more likely to become alcoholics.

Although many college students ignore the legal drinking age, a recent study gives students another reason to think twice about drinking alcohol before their 21st birthday.

According to a study published last month by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, people who began drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to become dependent on alcohol than those who begin drinking at the legal age of 21.

"This will definitely be in the back of my mind now," said Sam Ellis, an SNRE first-year student.

Bridget Grant, the principle investigator of the study, said the findings should be a warning to college students.

Not only does the study bring the future effects and threat of possible dependence on alcohol to students' attention, but it also can be a reason to examine alcohol's short-term consequences.

"Alcohol increases the risk for injuries and death due to auto accidents, risky sexual behavior and depression," said Grant, a psychiatric epidemiologist at NIAAA .

The study can serve as an important alarm to college students, said Marsha Benz, an alcohol and other drug education coordinator at University Health Service, adding that it will be difficult to fully utilize the study's findings.

"The problem is people feel invincible at this age and think (dependence) will happen to someone else," Benz said.

Benz said that it is difficult to identify alcohol dependency problems in college students because many people believe excessive drinking is just a phase.

"There is a large percentage (of students) drinking to excess who will become dependent, but there are those who will grow out of it," Benz said.

Students' reactions to the survey have been mixed. Some said the findings may guide their attitude toward alcohol use in the future.

Ellis said he was shocked to learn that 25 percent of the study's participants who began drinking at 17 - the same age as when he started - were now classified as dependent on alcohol.

"My friends and I started drinking at 17, too. The fact that one in four of us could become dependent is scary," he said.

Other students did not think the study would affect their future behavior or their attitudes about alcohol.

Kinesiology sophomore Peggie Birks said that although she started drinking when she was 16 years old, she is not worried that she is more likely to become dependent.

"There are other factors to becoming dependent," Birks said. "Besides, I drink a lot less now than when I started."

Results of the study

more than 40% who started drinking before age 15 became dependent on alcohol

25% of participants who started drinking at age 17 became dependent

10% of people that started drinking at age 21 and 22 were classified as dependent on alcohol

02-19-98