Alcohol consumption amongst teenagers/young adults circa 1995-2005 in Ireland?!

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2.4 Alcohol use among young people
For young people in Ireland, alcohol is the drug of choice and the initiation of alcohol consumption
typically occurs during adolescence. The CLAN survey in Ireland which studied college students with an average age of 21 years (Hope et al. 2005), found that the average age at onset of drinking was 15 years. The HBSC survey of 10 –17 year olds (Kelleher et al. 2003) demonstrated that over 50% of Ireland’s young people experimented with alcohol before the age of 12 and, of those aged 15–17, 54% of boys and 50% of girls were current drinkers (Nic Gabhainn cited in Strategic Task Force on Alcohol 2004). The most recent HBSC survey reported few changes between 2002 and 2006, with the proportion of children defined as current drinkers and the rate reporting having been ‘really drunk’ remaining stable. (Nic Gabhainn et al. 2007). The high rate of alcohol use among young people has been attributed to a number of factors, including increased affluence, loss of parental control and increased availability of and access to alcohol.

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In the 25-member EU, 90 percent of 15- and 16-year-old students have consumed alcohol at some point in their lives, a rate far higher than in the United States, according to the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. On average, they begin to drink at 12? and get drunk for the first time at 14. Among 15-year-old Danes, 50 percent of the boys and 37 percent of the girls drink every week, according to a study by the University of Copenhagen.

In countries such as Ireland, the UK and Denmark, what is termed "binge" drinking is common. This refers to reserving drinking alcohol for a few days a week - usually from Thursday and then consuming 4 or more liters of beer or 7 pints of beer in an evening. The intention of some younger drinkers is actually to get drunk/merry when heading out on an evening to drink.

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