A generation ago, when we were young, the typical image of a teen with a drinking problem was a guy guzzling from a keg. But in the past decades, the number of young girls with alcohol abuse issues has risen dramatically. There are so many immediate reasons why this should be matter of great concern to us as parents: the risk of car accidents, a greater vulnerability to sexual assault and an increased chance of a lifelong struggle with alcoholism.
There are more subtle health risks as well. A new study by researchers at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis indicates that girls who drink a lot between the ages of 9 and 15 increase their risk of having breast lumps when they get older. Although 80 percent of these lumps are benign, some can be a precursor to breast cancer. Women who have lumpy breasts are more likely to develop malignant tumors later on.
The St. Louis researchers followed close to 7,000 girls who were 9 to 15 at the start of the study in 1996 for 10 years. Girls and young women who drank alcohol most days of the week were 5.5 times more likely to have benign breast disease than those who didn't drink or who had less than one drink a week. The results will appear in the May issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Girls are physiologically more vulnerable to alcohol than boys because their bodies contain less water and so when they drink, the alcohol is less diluted and has a much stronger effect. There's also some evidence that hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle affect alcohol metabolism in girls.
If you're worried about your daughter's use of alcohol, the Department of Health and Human Services has some good information here.