Binge Drinking Most Prevalent Among Affluent Young Adult Males

From our archives: Previous articles that have some relevance today (Original date: 06/2009)
 
A new study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) infers that the most common binge drinkers are white males between the ages of 18-24 with an annual income above $50,000.
 
Still, there are causes for concern among all demographics. The study of 63,000 Americans reports that 17.5 percent of whites and 24.3 percent of males are binge drinkers. Binge drinkers who were black or American Indian/Alaskan Native had the highest episodes of binge drinking per month. Those between the ages of 18 and 24 had a binge drinker rate of 27.4 percent. This dropped slightly to 24.4 percent of those aged 24 to 34. In terms of income, those who earned over $50,000 per year were most common, but those who made less than $25,000 had the highest number of episodes in the last 30 days.
 
Overall, binge drinkers had four episodes per month and drank about eight drinks per binge. Per CDC’s website, “The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 grams percent or above. This typically happens when men consume 5 or more drinks, and when women consume 4 or more drinks, in about 2 hours.”
 
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