A study by the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne found that teenagers who binge drink are at risk not only of immediate harm when drunk but also of becoming alcohol dependent later.

A study by the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne found that teenagers who binge drink are at risk not only of immediate harm when drunk but also of becoming alcohol dependent later. The study tracked 2,000 young people over a period of 10 years, and it found that four-fifths of the 14-17-year-olds drank at some stage. Half of them also binge drank at some point in their teenage years--that is, at least twice in a fortnight they had consumed five drinks in a row over a two-hour period.

A more recent survey of the same group has shown that at an average age of 25, one in 12 were showing signs of alcohol dependence (such as tolerance to alcohol, drinking when they knew it was harmful, and feeling a compulsion to drink). The problem was much more common in young men than in young women. The study has also found that many young people in their twenties were still binge drinking, placing themselves at increased risk of physical injury, unwanted sex, and alcohol-related violence.

Professor George Patton, the director of the Centre for Adolescent Health, said the findings discounted the widely held perception that binge drinking was a rite of passage which young people eventually outgrew. In reality it put their health at serious long-term risk (Age, 6/9/03, p.8).