Adolescence is considered to be the time when a child ‘grows up’ and transitions into an adult (Marshall, 2014). The typical age range for adolescences begins at 10 years of age and ends at 19 years of age according to the World Health Organization (WHO), n.d.). Many young people are transitioning from being dependent on their caregivers to becoming an independent person. During this time poor decisioning making and impulses can become an issue for some adolescents (Costandi, 2015).
In a 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance performed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was found that 63.2% of students nationwide had at some point tried alcohol; 17.2% of those students first tasted alcohol before the age of 13 (Kann, 2016). Drinkaware performed another study based primarily in the United Kingdom where researchers found that eight out of ten adolescents under the age of 15 have tried alcohol at least once (Davies, 2012). Consuming alcohol starting at such a young age can lead to physiological and behavioral problems that may continue to carry on throughout adulthood (Costandi, 2015).
Various researchers from locations all across the world have conducted studies in attempt to find out what causes adolescents to start drinking alcohol; some of these studies look at whether or not gender is an influencing factor. The purpose of this paper is to review previous research to see if trends have been found that suggest one gender is more susceptible to alcohol use over the other.
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Alcohol consumption is not a problem that is specific to the United States. A researcher did a study in Warsaw, Poland that looked at different aspects of family life that may contribute to gender differences in adolescent alcohol consumption (Okulicz-Kozaryn, 2010). Prior to 2002, the popular trend was that boys tended to consume alcohol more regularly than girls. This was believed to be linked to the idea that parents would tend to be more controlling over their daughters rather than their sons. New studies have shown that adolescent girls in Poland are showing similar drinking behaviors to that of adolescent boys.
Due to changes in parenting, differences in maturation, and social differences the gap between girls and boys in Poland has narrowed. Researchers have found that boys tend to spend their free time inside because of an increased interest in computer and videos games. Girls tend to spend their free time away from home which could be a contributing factor to the increase in adolescent alcohol consumption. For this study 3141 eighth-grade students were asked to answer an anonymous questionnaire; out of the 3141 only 3087 responses were used. The questionnaire included topics such as: heavy alcohol use, parent employment, risk preferences, support from parents, control from parents, and time with parents.
After analyzing the compiled data, it was found that adolescent girls that were raised in patriarchal households were less likely to consume alcohol (18.6%) than adolescent boys raised in the same situation (26.1%). For those raised in an egalitarian household it was suggested that girls tended to drink more (27.2%) over boys (25.0%). Researchers found that gender can be a contributing factor to adolescent alcohol consumption when household type is taken into consideration (Okulicz-Kozaryn, 2010).
A study done in the United Kingdom found no evidence that gender was an influencing factor on drinking habits (Marshall, 2014). Data was collected about alcohol consumption at ages 10, 13, and 15. Researchers found that while over half of the participants had tried alcohol by the time they were 15 years old, the rates of male and female drinking were similar. They did find that 20% of those students tended to binge on alcohol (Marshall, 2014).
Along with gender, researchers conducted a study that looked at national drinking patterns and how they were influenced by a country’s policies (Bendtsen et al.’ 2014). It was hypothesized that area of residence influenced adolescents’ alcohol use because people tend to follow behaviors of those from the same culture. Researchers looked at an upward of 100,000 participants spread out across 37 countries. Each participant was asked to answer a Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) questionnaire. An Alcohol Policy Index (API) was developed to look at five different areas in each country, these included: availability of alcohol products, context of drinking, prices, adverting, and motor vehicle operation.
The API allowed for a more inclusive measurement of each country’s control policies. Lower scores indicated less restriction while higher scores indicated more restriction. The mean of all 37 countries showed that 18.3% of 13-year-old participants had experienced drunkenness at some point, 7.8% had drinks on a weekly basis, and 15-year-old participants had higher rates at 46.5% and 21.1% respectively. Researchers found that the United States had an API score of 23 which was considered to be more restrictive. Countries with higher API scores tended to have fewer incidences of weekly adolescent alcohol consumption. Additional models were performed to look possible differences amongst gender; 10 of these models found differences in gender.
It was found that the minimum purchasing age for alcohol affected the drinking habits among adolescent boys while other factors such as advertising and level of male binge drinking affected the drinking habits of adolescent girls. Weekly drinking was also different between gender; alcohol control policies affected boys’ weekly drinking while advertising restrictions affected girls’ weekly drinking. Both boys and girls that lived in countries with less alcohol availability restrictions were found to have increased levels of weekly drinking. Although these trends were found amongst boys and girls these were still too few differences; additional information must be gathered (Bendtsen et al.’ 2014).
More recently, the CDC conducted their 2017 High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey. High school students who participated in this survey were asked to answer a list of questions covering a variety of topics (CDC, 2017). Participants were asked if they have ever had a drink of alcohol, even just once. Researchers found that in the United States, out of those who answered the survey, females were more likely to have tried alcohol than males. This information however isn’t evidence that females are more prone to using alcohol because while females had higher occurrences nationwide they didn’t have higher occurrences state to state. Out of the 29 states that were included in the survey, 19 of those states had higher incidences of female adolescent alcohol use while the remaining states had higher rates of male adolescents who had tried alcohol. This CDC survey also only focuses on a limited number of high school students and does not include all 50 states (CDC, 2017).
Based on these studies, it is important for nurses and other healthcare professionals to know what problems can arise from adolescent alcohol consumption and how to assess patients who may be at risk for alcohol abuse (Costandi, 2015). Adolescents are more sensitive to the cognitive effects of alcohol rather than sedation. Not much is known about brain development and behavioral effects of long-term alcohol use but there has been evidence to suggest that the hippocampus is affected. The effects of alcohol continue to compromise the functional and structural integrity of the hippocampus not only in adolescence but also into adult life. This can lead to memory loss, blackouts, seizures, and other complications. Researchers have also found that regular alcohol use in adolescence can lead to reduced brain volume including thinning of the prefrontal cortex. The earlier drinking starts, the more detrimental the effects of alcohol can be (Costandi, 2015).
Along with the previously mentioned physiological effects of alcohol there are other behavioral changes that can occur. Alcohol consumption can increase the risk of injuries, accidents, and violence towards others or self. Other risk-taking behaviors such as crime and unprotected sexual behavior can occur with underage drinking (Kiernan, Fhearail, & Coyne, 2012). Alcohol consumption has become a public health concern because of the high number of people who are secondarily affected by drinkers, such as those involved in car accidents with drunk drivers. Researchers have also found that alcohol abuse is leading to an increase in anti-social characteristics. A more commonly seen trend amongst adolescents is binge drinking. Binge drinking is the consumption of large amounts of alcohol at one time for the effects and drunkenness that alcohol provides (Davies, 2012).
Nurses can help to screen those who may be struggling with alcohol use. WHO introduced the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to aid in the alcohol abuse screening process. AUDIT is a questionnaire, that should be given in a private setting, that asks questions about a person’s drinking habits. After completion a numerical score between 0-40 is given to determine if someone may be misusing alcohol. It is also useful to use motivational interviewing to allow adolescents to reflect on their own thoughts and feelings about why they may be struggling with alcohol use. Through AUDIT and motivational interviewing nurses can help refer adolescents who use alcohol to proper services that they need (Keirnan et al., 2012).
In conclusion, researchers have found that alcohol use during adolescence can lead to both behavioral and physiological problems that can last throughout adulthood. While some researchers found that adolescent girls tended to consume alcohol more than boys, there still was no evidence to suggest that this was a trend. Typically, another factor in addition to gender would lead to an increase in girls drinking alcohol such as household type or social life. Some other studies found that there were no differences amongst genders when it came to the amount of alcohol consumed or at what age alcohol was first introduced. It was suggested that alcohol use is more influenced by family dynamics, culture, and other environmental factors.
