alcohol

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Alcohol’s Harms Are Easy To Document, But Health Benefits Hard To Prove

Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the world, including in the United States. About 70 percent of adults in the United States report past-year alcohol consumption, with over 37 million drinkers reporting binge drinking (defined for women as four or more drinks per occasion, and five or more drinks per occasion for men) at least once a week. The prevalence of past-year drinking has increased in the past two decades, from 65.4 percent in 2001 to 2002 to 72.7 percent in 2012 to 2013. Partially because it is such a commonly used substance, heavily marketed and glamorized in pop culture, Americans’ comfort with and acceptance of alcohol is high. Should it be? I research alcohol use and the associations between drinking and a wide range of problems. While the rising opioid epidemic has ...

Among Black Youths At Racially Segregated Schools – Alcohol Use More Likely

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Among Black Youths At Racially Segregated Schools – Alcohol Use More Likely

Black youths who attend racially segregated schools are more likely to have drinking and behavior problems during childhood than Black youths in less segregated schools. This is according to a new study we conducted using national survey data from 1997 to 2014. School segregation, defined as the physical separation of students in schools based on their race, was ruled unconstitutional in 1954 as part of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision. Consequently, about 1,000 districts nationwide were under court orders to desegregate. However, school segregation has increased since 1991, when the first of a series of court decisions allowed districts to be released from court-ordered desegregation. Highly segregated schools – where less than 10% of students are white – in...

Among College Students Alcohol Is Becoming More Common In Sexual Assault

13Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY, WOMENS ISSUES

Among College Students Alcohol Is Becoming More Common In Sexual Assault

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea One out of every three. That is the number of women in college who say they have been a victim of sexual assault either when they were in high school or college. That’s according to my new peer-reviewed research in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, which is based on survey data from 2015. That figure is significantly higher than it was in the mid-1980s when I conducted the first such national survey of college students at 32 institutions. Back then, the number was one out of every four. Of these incidents, 75% involved victims who admitted they were incapacitated by alcohol at the time of the assault. In the mid-1980s, that number stood at 50%. For the study, sexual assault was defined consistently wit...

In Any Way Is Drinking Good For You? If Not, Why Is Alcohol Legal For Adults?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism

In Any Way Is Drinking Good For You? If Not, Why Is Alcohol Legal For Adults?

Margie Skeer, Tufts University Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Is alcohol consumption of any benefit to humans? If not, why aren’t we thinking about banning it forever? – Lamiah S., Kerala, India Scientists have been trying to figure out whether alcoholic beverages can be good for your health for a long time, often reaching contradictory conclusions. What is clear is that wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages can be bad for you for many reasons. That’s especially true for people who frequently drink heavily. The effects of drinking alcohol, which is made by fermenting the sugars found in grapes, barley, potatoes and other plants, vary according to how much som...