(Chris Maynard for The New York Times)Whether kids start binge drinking at college is strongly influenced by whether they can get their hands on fake ID’s.
That’s what University of Missouri researchers found in a recent study of heavy drinking by underage college students. Kids who are younger than 21 are already twice as likely to binge drink as their older college peers. But having a fake ID dramatically increases the odds.
The Missouri study quizzed a sample of 3,720 undergraduates during their freshman and sophomore years. They found that students with fake ID’s were five to six times more likely to go on a heavy drinking binge at least once a week, compared to those who didn’t have an easy way to sneak into clubs or buy alcohol. (Binge drinking is defined as five drinks or more in a sitting for men, and four drinks or more for women.)
Even if your kid doesn’t have a fake ID before entering college, he or she may work hard to get one. The study, published this summer in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, also found that before college, 12.5 percent of the kids had fake ID’s; by the fourth semester, nearly one-third did. Belonging to a fraternity or sorority also increased the likelihood that the student had a fake ID.
Once an underage student gets hold of a fake ID, his or her drinking habits change dramatically. In the study, kids who had been drinking only a few times a month began drinking once or twice a week once they obtained a fake ID. “These numbers show there is a pure relationship between fake ID ownership and drinking,’’ said lead author Julia A. Martinez, a doctoral student at the university.
For parents, the data present a tricky problem. Nobody wants to dig through a child’s wallet to confiscate a fake ID, but the data show that once kids acquire ID’s, their drinking behavior gets more risky. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism offers tips on how to talk to your kid about alcohol and has created College Drinking — Changing the Culture, a Web site filled with facts, statistics and useful information about college drinking. And earlier this year the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office issued its first-ever call to action to stop underage drinking.
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From 1 to 25 of 36 Comments
It seems that those who want to drink will look to get a fake ID, while those not interested won’t bother.
The result is a correlation: having a fake ID will not cause an underage person to drink, but rather one will obtain a fake ID in order to drink.
— deoUnderage drinking is already culturally accepted. The focus should instead be on binge drinking and driving under the influence — in other words, responsible drinking at any age.
— reid savidI find this prohibition of drinking for youths under 21 ridiculous. In *civilised* countries (France, for example) free of the puritanical hogwash which permeates the US, youngsters are given a little wine in their water, a few drops to begin with, and then a little more with each passing year. Do French kids in college suffer from binge drinking? I think not!
If something is prohibited completely, OF COURSE the prohibition will be overturned at the first opportunity, with the regrettable results of excess.
So to eliminate binge drinking, kids need to be shown how to enjoy alcohol for pleasure, rather than as a way of overthrowing repression.
By my book, Mothers Against Drunk Driving are in part responsible for this epidemic by not advocating this approach. Kids who learn to handle alcohol in a moderate way with their parents (for example, a glass of wine or a beer with dinner) are, in my view, less likely to engage in destructive behaviour, whether it be drunk driving or destroying their bodies with alcoholic excess.
— David LewistonOf course, none of this would be a problem if we did away with the drinking age. At first kids might go crazy, but pretty soon alcohol would stop being forbidden fruit and it wouldn’t be nearly so fun to break the rules. Look at Europe — when’s the last time you saw a headline about a college student there dying from binge drinking?
— KatieIs it possible that those who are intent on, or predisposed to, heavy drinking comprise a disproportionate segment of those who SEEK the fake IDs? Is it the ID that creates the drinker, or is it the drinker who seeks out the ID?
— Freshman’s DadPeople under 21 get fake ID’s because they want to go drinking. There is a huge selection bias among the people who choose to get ID’s — of course the population is going to behave differently.
— TreeI agree, correlation does not equal causation.
The problem doesn’t seem to be that the students have fake ID’s, but that they feel compelled to binge drink and commit a crime (obtaining and using a fake idea) to assist the habit. The solution should be for parents to discuss healthy drinking behaviors with their children and to be aware of the signs of alcoholism, rather than to take away a fake ID.
— enMaybe in America adults should have the right to drink?
— SpencerIssuing drinking learner permits, as proposed by chooseresponsibility.org, would promote responsible drinking while discouraging irresponsible consumption.
— David HansonWe hear this all the time about the French! According to the Marin Institute’s 2000 Winter Commentary, the French have the sixth highest per capita alcohol consumption in the world. The rate of binge drinking among 14-16 year olds in France has increased 5-fold since 1996.They have passed one of the strongest laws against advertising alcohol on TV and movies, restrict them on radio until after 10pm, and forbid advertising during sports events. I went to high school in Europe in the 70’s and many of the the kids I knew weren’t drinking responsibly, but their parents didn’t really care, nor did the police as long as they weren’t driving drunk or causing too much mischief.
— MissmIn other countries around the world, what’s considered a “healthy” amount to drink varies greatly. For example, in Australia, “Men should drink no more than 4 standard drinks a day on average and never more than 6 standard drinks in one day. Women should drink no more than 2 standard drinks a day on average and never more than 4 standard drinks in one day.” (http://www.alcohol.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/standard) Their daily recommendation is half of what we define as binge drinking!
— VickeyWe trust 18 year olds with machine guns and grenade launchers … but not a six-pack of Miller Lite.
— Matt BAbolishing the drinking age is not an answer to binge drinking. Binge drinking does occur in other countries. Just because we do not read about binge drinking in other countries, does not mean they don’t have the problem.
— AKPerhaps allowing those under 21 to drink within walking distance of their residences would satisfy MADD while reducing the fake ID arms race?
— GRBThis article seems to have been written by someone with no concept of reality. As put forth by other commentors, having a fake ID is a product of wanting to drink, wanting to drink is not the product of having a fake ID. Likewise, being in a fraternity or sorrority is often a sign that someone likes to drink- indeed, many fraternities on my campus would find it difficult to consider a non-drinker for a spot in the house- tis the way of the greeks.
— MaxAlcohol use, underage or not, is still socially acceptable, relatively, but that is starting to change as more scientific studies focus on the harmful effects — psychologically, physiologically and socially — of alcohol. It is only a matter of time that alcohol will be as socially unacceptable as smoking, and rightly so. Fourteen hundred students die each year in the US, and 20 die each day in the UK, from alcohol. In France wine consumption is already one half of what it was in the 1970’s, and beer consumption is dropping in Germany. In most European countries it is not socially acceptable to be drunk at any age, where the saying “a short drink for a long evening” is more of a rule. Sweden had applied a $15 tax on each bottle of alcohol to help pay the high cost of alcohol-related disease and injury to its national health system, and stated that that even was not enough to cover the cost.
Maybe its time for mayor Bloomberg to lead in setting rules for the labeling of alcohol containers, placing health warning notices in places that serve alcohol, and raising the tax on all alcohol products to apply to paying for the high cost of crime and violence and public health care from the use of alcohol.
Alcohol is a disgusting vice, and we’ll all be better off when it is consigned to the dark places from whence it came.
— J SwensonI was a teen age binge drinker in 1942 with a fake ID. If I did not have a fake ID, I think I would have been a binge drinker under any conditions. Drinking made me feel worthwhile and important. Lectures do not work.
— conrad schmittIf you examine the actual study, the authors control for such things as prior heavy drinking. The study seems to indicate findings that are more than just correlation.
— CynthiaThe study is prospective and models both selection (the prediction of obtaining a fake ID based on prior drinking) and (presumed) influence (the effect of a fake ID on subsequent drinking controlling for PRIOR drinking and other relevant covariates). While selection represents much of the association, there is still a clear statistically unique effect on subsequent drinking. This residual prediction can be thought of as reflecting, in part, the success (or lack thereof) of current countermeasures (e.g., server training, purchase laws, etc.) as well as a facilitative effect on drinking.
Eds. note: The poster, Dr. Kenneth Sher, is a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Missouri and co-author of the study on underage drinking.
— mumlusThere will never be a shortage of fake ID’s, just like there will never be a shortage of drugs, alcohol, or Surgeon Generals’ Calls to Action. This problem is not going to be solved by “enforcement” of the alcohol laws or tighter restrictions. We need some reform at the family level.
— dougFor many parents, talking to your teen about underage drinking can often feel like you’re talking to a brick wall. Fortunately, numerous studies have shown that THE LEADING influence over a teen’s decision to drink or not to drink alcohol is their parents. Parents, whether your teens are 13 or 19 years old, clearly they are listening and hold your opinion in high regard, whether you realize it or not. Tips for talking with your teen include: disapprove of underage drinking, reinforce that underage drinking is against the law, and recognize problem behavior and seek help when necessary.
— Ralph Blackman, President & CEO, The Century CouncilWhen the drinking age was 18, I was able to get alcohol at 15 and 16 from older friends. I was able to buy kegs for parties at 16 and 17. We didn’t bother with fake ID’s. We would just borrow a legitimate ID from someone who looked like us. Or, in many cases, the ID’s just were not scrutinized.
I think things are better now in terms of trying to prevent underage drinking, but one thing that has worked for me with my 17-year-old son is talking about the risks in our family of alcoholism.
(He has four great grandparents who were alcoholics and at least an uncle.)
While my parents were not alcoholics, they were the adult children of alcoholics, but it was never discussed with me or my brothers and sisters. I was 21 when my father told me that his dad was an alcoholic.
I think a more realistic discussion with your kids is helpful than all the lecturing in the world.
I feel a little bad about having to warn my child this way. But if I can postpone the age at which he has his first drink(s), all the better.
— KateOur 18 year olds can vote, get married, and give up their lives for our country. They certainly ought to be able to buy beer.
— Mother of 5This focus on underage drinking is misguided. It will fail unless and until there is a common realization that alcoholism is a family disease. When my son began drinking at age 10, I was alarmed and puzzled, and formed a citywide task force to study prevention. We endorsed a program similar to DARE, which is now entrenched in most schools although proven to be thoroughly ineffective.
— SaraTwenty years later, I now know that my own family has been riddled with alcoholism for generations, and thus I married an alcoholic. Guess what, our son thought drinking was cool. Lecturing kids is useless unless the parents are setting a good example.
Schools having policies that prohibit or discourage binge drinking may be useful, but
responsible drinking begins at home.
To the third post:
— JanIn what you consider “civilized” countries (like France) there are actually much higher rates of cirrhosis of the liver (a side effect of heavy drinking) as well as many other problems associated with drinking compared to countries that have higher age limits for the drinking age.