1. In 2011, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
posted a report on binge drinking in women. The information this report was
based on was gathered from the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
and from the 2011 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The study found that binge
drinking is a major problem amongst young women, with tens of thousands of
deaths and hundreds of thousands of years lost because of it. Binge drinking
was found to be highly prevalent in females, and done so frequently and
intensely by most. The report found that the highest amount of binge drinkers
occurs among women between the ages of 18 – 34. This group of women also showed
the most frequent and intense involvement in binge drinking compared to High
School girls and women ages 25-34. Another major finding of the study was that
there was a correlation between household income and the amount of binge
drinkers, as the amount of binge drinkers increased with increased income.
Additionally, it was determined that binge drinking is very common amongst High
School girls, with the majority of girls this age who drink alcohol in general,
also participating in binge drinking.
2. Binge drinking amongst women requires attention as an
important public health issue because there are major risk factors that are
involved with this kind of activity. The health of women who participate in
binge drinking and do so frequently is in far more danger than it would be if
they didn’t partake. With potentially life shortening and, in some cases, fatal
consequences, this is an issue that needs to be assessed, addressed, and
hopefully improved. Binge drinking in women, specifically, is a pressing issue
because of the generally larger and more negative effects alcohol has on them
versus men due to body makeup. Additionally, the possibility of pregnancy makes
this activity in women more urgent.
3. As a girl within the age group being studied, I find
these results to be relatively representative of what I’ve observed in my own
experiences. Especially as a college student, I see binge drinking very
prevalent here on campus, as well as when I was in high school. Thus, the high
frequency and intensity of binge drinking seems accurate.
There would definitely be some issues with the accuracy of
the self-reported data in this survey. For some, they recognize that binge
drinking is looked down upon and might understate how much they drink. It is
possible that there is a larger prevalence than reported due to the women being
surveyed altering their answers.
4. For girls and women at this age, it is rare that the
potential risks and consequences of actions involving alcohol are brought into
mind. Thus, in order to make an impact and change the amount of binge drinking
that occurs, it is definitely important to make these girls and women see the
potential harms in their actions. A widespread campaign that shows women who
are suffering from their actions with binge drinking might influence a good
amount of women to at least lower their intake. To 9im9help the situation
further, the laws that make alcohol more difficult to get could be more
enforced. Especially in places where there are large amount of young women,
such as in college towns or near universities, it could help to crack down more
on underage drinking so that at least binge drinking in women under 21 could be
reduced.
Your summary of the article covered all the main points. Regarding question two, you did a good job of explaining why binge drinking is an issue but I think your point could have been stronger had you distinguished binge drinking as an issue specially as opposed to the larger public health cause of preventing any alcohol abuse. In the third question, I liked your mention of the socially condemnation of binge drinking which probably led to lower reported levels of it in the survey. Your suggestion to place more stringent rules restricting young women from purchasing alcohol would work for half the age group mentioned, but binge drinking is also a problem for women above the legal age of 21. How would you address them?
ReplyDeleteAlyssa,
ReplyDeleteYou've done a great job summarizing the article. I also like that you included both life shortening and fatal consequences. When we think about public health, we must focus on the health of the population, and when lives are shortened by a harmful substance, there are so many downstream effects (damaged families, lost economic opportunities, chronic disease, etc). In the third question, you correctly surmise that social stigma might affect reporting on alcohol consumption. Do you think this would be the same for males? (I wonder if there would be over-reporting in their case?) THe other thing to think about here is that when people have been drinking heavily they often cannot recall how many drinks they've had, so the reporting is not accurate. In question four, I like your ideas. Essentially you propose two idease: first, en educational campaign, and second making alcohol more difficult to get. Both are good ideas, but require very different approaches to the problem. Sally's question to you about the women over 21 is interesting.
Erin