Study: Lowering drinking age will most likely not effect binge drinking among young adults

A study from Louisiana State University (LSU) revealed that lowering the drinking age is unlikely to stop binge drinking among young adults.

Recently, the Amethyst Initiative, a group of college presidents and chancellors, said that the current alcohol laws promote underage drinking at college parties. They added that if students could legally consume alcohol in bars and restaurants they might learn how to moderately drink, rather than engage in more dangerous binge drinking.

The researchers evaluated the “misperception effect,” which is the idea that underage students think normal drinking levels are higher than they actually are. Furthermore, they added that young adults who are surrounded by those who moderately consume alcohol are more likely to change their habits to match those around them.

However, researchers from LSU found that the colleges that would most likely see a decrease in binge drinking from lowered drinking ages were schools who had the poorest enforcement of underage drinking laws. Furthermore, they added that previous research into lowering the drinking age showed that it would promote alcohol-related problems, such as drunk driving.