State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

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Alcohol Use Is Widespread Among Today’s Teenagers
Statistics on the widespread use of alcohol with teens
Alcohol Use Increases Substantially From Middle To High School
Significant changes occur in the body at this time, including the formation of networks in the brain. Alcohol use among youth ages 15-20 is linked with the following:
More statistics on the effects of alcohol on teens
Fact Sheet: The Facts About Youth & Alcohol
Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Underage Drinking - The Facts: The implementation of the 21 drinking age throughout the U.S. has been extremely successful in preventing impaired driving crashes and other alcohol-related harms among young people. But young people still drink and still suffer serious and sometimes tragic consequences.  Read more...
Source: Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE)
StopAlcoholAbuse.Gov is your gateway to comprehensive research and resources on the prevention of underage drinking. Materials available through this portal are provided by the 15 Federal agencies of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD).  Read more...
Drinking alcohol before 15 years of age is risky for later alcohol problems:   It may seem like a minor point, but it matters when someone takes their first drink of alcohol relative to later development of alcohol problems.   Read more...
Source: Addiction Science Made Easy, Addiction Technology Transfer Center National Office and SAMHSA, Dec. 2008
Effects and Consequences of Underage Drinking:   This bulletin from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention published in September 2012 presents findings from a literature review that investigated how underage drinking can affect a youth’s physical, emotional, and neurological health. It also discusses the personal, legal, and economic consequences of underage drinking.  Read more...

HHS/CDC reports decrease in teen drinking and driving, October 2012:  For the Vital Signs report, researchers analyzed data from the 1991-2011 national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS). Many efforts have been helping to reduce teen drinking and driving. Parents play a crucial role in keeping their teens safe on the road. They can model safe driving behavior and set and enforce the “rules of the road” by completing a parent-teen driving agreement with their teens. CDC’s Parents Are the Key campaign offers parents of teen drivers information, tools, and proven tips to help protect their teens from crashes.