Girls, Women + Binge Drinking | CDC Report

Percentage of the ~38% of high school girls who drank in the prior 30 days who said they binge drank

• In females, the benchmark for binge drinking is four servings of beer, wine or liquor on a single occasion.
• In a 2011 CDC study, one in eight U.S. women and one in five high school girls reported binge drinking in the prior 30 days.
• Girls reported binge drinking considerably more than women (with the exception of non-Hispanic black girls who are about as likely (at 10%) to binge drink as their mothers, aunts and older sisters).
• Among high school girls in the 2011 study:
• 37.9% had one or more drinks in the prior 30 days
• 19.8% binge drank the prior 30 days (four or more drinks at a time)
• of those who drank at all in the prior 30 days, more than half (54.6%) binge drank
• "Excessive alcohol use" led to an estimated average of 23,000 female deaths each year from 2001-2005

What do you think?

Q: What are the perceived upsides to binge drinking among 20% of high school girls?

Q: Why do the other 80% of girls not pursue those perceived benefits in the same way?

Q: What risks do you associate with binge drinking?

Q: How can adolescents cooperate to lower the risks of binge drinking among their peers?