One out of 3 adults and 2 out of 3 high school students who drink alcohol binge drink, according to recent government surveys. Startlingly, the data suggest that 90% of the alcohol consumed by high-school kids and more than half the alcohol consumed by adults is downed during the course of binge drinking. What’s with Americans’ overindulgence?
4 Reasons Binge Drinking Is a Public Health Problem
Among college students alone — 80% of whom drink, including 51% who binge drink — an estimated 700,000 are attacked by another student in alcohol-related incidents, according to a survey by the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Nearly 100,000 college women also report being sexually assaulted in attacks that involve drinking, although experts suggest that number is far higher in reality, since sexual assault is notoriously underreported. (More on Time.com: Study: An Earlier 'Last Call' May Reduce Assaults) Off campus, older adults suffer just as much: two-thirds of episodes of domestic violence involves alcohol, according to Bureau of Justice statistics. And 45% of men arrested for violent assault of any kind report drinking first. Next: Long-Term Illness and Death