More often than not, teenagers' decisions about what to wear and
listen to, or even whom to associate with, are influenced by what
their friends are doing. Peer pressure takes its ugliest form when
it encourages participation in dangerous or illegal activities such
as drinking or driving drunk.
A new Gallup Youth Survey* asked teens a series of questions
about alcohol use and drunk driving. The survey asked teens, aged
13 to 17, if they have occasion to use alcoholic beverages such as
liquor, wine, or beer. Although none of them can legally purchase
alcoholic drinks, about one in six (17%) say they use them.
Older teens are more likely than younger teens to say they
drink. A quarter of 16- and 17-year-olds say they drink. Among 13-
to 15-year-olds, only 1 in 10 admit drinking. The legal drinking
age in the United States is 21. So it's possible that drinking
could be underreported among teens out of fear of disclosing
illegal activity.
Teens, Alcohol, and Cars
Teens can be dangerous drivers, either from a lack of maturity
or experience (see "Public: Sixteen Too Young to Drive" in Related
Items) -- and adding alcohol to the equation is lethal. According
to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the
percentage of non-alcohol-related fatalities involving teen drivers
was 74.7% in 2003, and the percentage of alcohol-related fatalities
involving teen drivers was 25.3%.
Data from the Gallup Youth Survey suggest that a non-trivial
number of teens have experienced impaired driving firsthand. Nine
percent of teens report having been a passenger in a car driven by
someone about their age who was under the influence of alcohol. Not
surprisingly, this percentage increases among teens of legal
driving age. Four percent of 13- to 15-year-olds say they have
ridden with a teen driver under the influence, compared with 13% of
16- and 17-year-olds.
A small but not insignificant number of teens report having
driven a car shortly after drinking alcohol. Seven percent of 16-
and 17-year-olds say they have. Obviously, 13- to 15-year-olds
aren't of legal driving age and therefore don't report driving
after drinking. Again, social desirability and legal factors could
affect the way teens respond this question, so the actual
percentage of teens who have driven after drinking could be
higher.
*These results are based on telephone interviews with a
randomly selected national sample of 1,028 teenagers in
the Gallup Poll Panel of households, aged 13 to 17,
conducted Jan. 17 to Feb. 6, 2005. For results based on this
sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error
attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3
percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording
and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce
error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
