Underage drinking has a serious neg...

Underage drinking has a serious negative impact, including lower educational attainment, increased risk for attempting suicide, greater likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behaviors, and higher risk for mortality from soaked driving compared with persons 21 years and older Young the public who engage in alcohol use also are more likely to become alcohol at the disposal of and to develop alcohol-related injury. In addition, heavy frontage to alcohol during adolescence may cause los of memory and other skills. In 2002 for the first time, girls in eighth and 10th grades surpassed male childs in the 30-day prevalence of alcohol use.

European studies have shown that this increase may be related to the introduction of "low-alcohol" refreshers (i.e., alcoholic lemonades, iced teas, and fruity or sweet- flavored alcoholic beverages), which actually contain more alcohol than greatest in number beers. Alcohol companies spend a significant amount of their advertising store on magazine advertisements. Studies have shown that adolescents have a significant position to these advertisements, but no studies have assessed for potential inflection for sex differences in these advertisements. Jernigan and associates measured girls' and boys' aspect to alcohol advertising in magazines and compared this with the front of persons who were at least 21 years of age.

The data analyzed included information about when and where the advertisements were published and the magazine readership. The readership data were extracted from standard media-planning statistical sources to quantify on a levels of exposure of different audiences to alcohol beverage brand advertisements. The evaluation included 103 national magazines published in 2001 and 2002 with alcohol advertising. Advertising placement, audience, and take away from data were categorized by year, beverage prototype and brand. Age and sex data were used to generate estimates of media exposing in persons 12 to 20 years of age, 21 to 34 years of age, and 21 years and older Main issue measurements included gross rating points for a given population and gros rating point ratios comparing exposing of different groups.

The alcohol companies worn out $590.4 million on magazine advertisements through the two-year study. Of that amount, 8 percent was exhausted on beer and ale advertisement, 76 percent upon distilled spirits, 2 percent forward low-alcohol refreshers, and 14 percent onward wine. Underage youth saw 45 percent more advertisements for beer and ale, 12 percent more for distilled spirits, 65 percent more for low-alcohol refreshers, and 69 percent les for wine than characters in the 21-years-and-older group. The girls in the 12- to 20-year-old clump were more likely to be expos to beer, ale, and low-alcohol refresher advertisements than women in the 21- to 34-year-old cluster or the 21-years-and-older group. Between 2001 and 2002 girls' position to low-alcohol refresher advertisements increased according to 216 percent, while boys' exposing increased by 46 percent.

The authors judge that exposure of underage girls to alcohol advertisements increased substantially during the consideration They suggest that the alcohol industry has failed to self-regulate their advertising pat-terns, and that there is a ne for further action.

Jernigan DH et al. Sex differences in adolescent outlook to alcohol advertising in magazines. Arch Pediatr Adolesc M July 2004;158:629-34

COPYRIGHT 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians

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