Heavy Drinking 1

Running head: Heavy Drinking

Heavy Drinking among U.S. Adults

Caleb Silvia

West Texas A&M University

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Heavy Drinking among U.S. Adults

Introduction and Significance of Issue

The use of alcohol has been going on for ages and they even changed the alcohol

consumption age from 18 to 21 not too long ago. There are numerous affects that drinking can

cause such as liver disease, addiction, or even death. This topic interest me because I have had

people in my family that have become addicted to alcohol and for that reason, I was never really

interested in it. The issue of heavy drinking is important because anyone can become addicted to

it and in the long run this could be very harmful to you or to someone you know. I wanted to find

out the answer to three different questions of mine. First, to examine the differences in drinking

by adults in the past year. Second, to examine what age group engaged in heavy drinking. Third,

to examine which adults engaged in heavy drinking with a mental health problem.

Hypotheses or Research Questions

Q1. In the united states how often did someone over the age of 18 drink per week in the past

year?

Q2. What percentage of adults engaged in heavy drinking in the past year by age group?

Q3. What percentage of adults engaged in heavy drinking by select mental health indicators?

Methods
The methodology employed in this study was in three different sections. The first being

the distribution of current alcohol drinking status among adults over the age of 18. There were 4

different groups, first was a light weekly drinker (45.7%), next was the group that did not drink

at all (33.7%, third was the moderate drinker (15.5%, and last was the heavy drinker (5.1%).

Next, being the percentage of adults who engaged in heavy drinking in the past year by

demographic. The first group was 18–29-year old’s (5.2%) then 30-44 year old’s (5.2%), 45-64

year old’s (5.6%), and 65 years or older (4.1%). Last, the percentage of adults who engaged in
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heavy drinking in the past year, by select mental health indicators. The worried and nervous

group (7%), the group that was not worried or nervous (4.9%), the depressed group (7.6%), and

the group that was not depressed (5%).

Analysis
The data was analyzed using a series of multiple regression analyses to the questions in

this study. The independent variables were able to answer the questions along with the dependent

variables in this study. We were able to see what groups were higher in there heavy drinking and

which groups were lower. Not only were we able to see this but we were also able to see whether

mental conditions influenced drinking or not.

Results
The first question asked how often someone over the age of 18 drank per week in the past

year. To answer this question, I looked at the percent of drinking by adults in the year 2018. It

showed that 45.7% of adults were light weekly drinkers, 33.7% did not ever drink, 15.5% drank

moderately, and only 5.1% engaged in heavy drinking. Seeing this it showed me that roughly

66% of Americans would have a drink weekly.

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Second, we asked what percentage of adults by age group engaged in heavy drinking.

This time I looked at another line graph that showed the age groups and who binge drinks.

The graph was able to show that the middle age group from 25-34 binge drank the most at 27%

while the slightly younger adults from 18-24 was at about 25%. The older they got the less

people decided to binge drink. In addition, binge drinking is twice as common among men than

women and more common with people who make more money and have higher education.

The last question I asked was if mental health played a factor in binge drinking. The fact

was yes it does slightly affect the percentage. People who were worried or nervous drank about

2% more than the people who were not anxious. The regularly depressed group had about a 7.6%

of adults who engaged in heavy drinking while the non-depressed group was only 5% meaning
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that if you are depressed you have about a 2.6% chance of feeling the need to drink over not

drinking. This proved that having anxiety, feeling nervous, worried, or depressed caused more

people to engage in heavy drinking.

*Integrate at least two visual

graphs or tables*

Conclusion
The study was able to highlight a couple of important factors. First, mental health

indicators ultimately have a negative effect on you all around and especially when it comes to

drinking alcohol. Age could also be a factor seeing as when you are younger you want to drink

quite a bit more than when you are older. The findings of this study show that it is okay to have a

drink every now and then, but when you start to realize you have gone overboard or you feel that
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you have entered the group who is involved in heavy drinking, you should seek help. Drinking

heavy is okay in moderation, but when it is happening often you could really be affecting

yourself in the long run. Seeing what I was able to find I feel that around the world, in work, at

school, or at home you can try to make yourself more aware and be helpful to your mental health

so that you never fall into the category of drinking too much.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019, December 30). Binge Drinking is a serious

but preventable problem of excessive alcohol use. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/binge-drinking.htm.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, August 18). Products - Data Briefs - Number

374- August 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db374.htm.