Underage drinking leaves girls especially vulnerable
Parents: Underage drinking can lead to dangerous and irresponsible sexual behaviors. Sexual
predators use alcohol to hinder their victim’s ability to resist. Girls who drink are putting
themselves at risk for sexual assault and rape. Read these facts. Remember them. Then talk to
you kids about the sexual dangers of underage drinking.
24% of teens aged 15-17 admit that alcohol caused them to do more sexually than they
had planned.1
23% of sexually active teens and young adults report having unprotected sex when
drunk or high.1
Nearly 75% of rape victims were drunk at the time of the attack.2
Rape occurs more often on campuses with higher rates of binge drinking. 2
Teen girls who binge drink are up to 63% more likely to become teen mothers. 3
College students who got drunk before age 13 are twice as likely to engage in unplanned
sex when drinking and more than twice as likely to have unprotected sex. 4
60% of rapes occur in the victim’s home or in the home of a friend or relative.5
77% of rapes are committed by someone the victim knows.5
Girls Are Especially Vulnerable:
Girls get drunk faster than boys because their
stomachs have less of a certain enzyme which
neutralizes alcohol, so more alcohol enters the
bloodstream.6
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt Them
Did you know that 16% of girls, aged 13-15, say they drink with their friends? 7 You may think
that this statistic doesn’t include your child; but the truth is you may be wrong.
Mothers significantly underestimate their daughter’s experience with alcohol.7
Mothers underestimate the occurrence of underage drinking.7
Mothers misjudge the seriousness of underage drinking.7
Sources:
1. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse,
(2002) Millions of Young People Mix Sex with Alcohol or Drugs With Dangerous Consequences, Columbia
University.
2. Binge Drinking, Rape Are Relate Study Finds Colleges With More Bingeing Have More Sexual Assaults,
By Lloyd de Vries.
3. T.S. Dee, (2001) “The Effects of Minimum Legal Drinking Ages on Teen Childbearing,” The Journal of
Human Resources, 36 no. 4, 824-838.
4. R. Hingson, et al, (2003). “Early Age of First Drunkenness as a Factor in College Students’ Unplanned
and Unprotected Sex Attributable to Drinking,” Pediatrics 111, 34-41.
5. Rape statistics Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 03:51:48 -0800 (PST)
6. Study Tells Why Alcohol is Greater Risk to Women," The New York Times, 1.11.1990
7. New Survey Reveals Alarming Data on Moms, Daughters and Underage Drinking Results Serve as
Foundation for New Public Awareness Initiative: Girl Talk: Choices and Consequences of Underage
Drinking U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Players Association Endorses Girl Talk, Monday, December
12, 2005.