Animal studies suggest that alcohol may have a greater impact on adolescent than adult memory and that these effects may be long lasting. Human studies have detected cognitive impairments in adolescent alcohol abusers weeks after they stopped drinking.

Problematic alcohol use—that is, heavy drinking, or drinking that is accompanied by unpleasant consequences—tends to increase as people go through late adolescence, peaking at about age 22 or so, and then decline as they grow older. Some researchers consider this decline a “maturing out” of problem drinking.

The transitional period between high school and young adulthood is a time of increased alcohol use and abuse, which can have long-term effects on both physical and psychological well-being and may have implications for the attainment of traditional adult roles.

Some New Year’s predictions are, tragically, very reliable. For example, more people are likely to die in alcohol-related traffic crashes on New Year’s Eve than on other mid-week winter evenings.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is based on the principles of social learning theory and views drinking behavior as functionally related to major problems in the person’s life.

Too often today’s headlines bring news of yet another alcohol-related tragedy involving a young person—a case of fatal alcohol poisoning on a college campus or a late-night drinking–driving crash. People ages 18 to 25 often are in the news, but are they really at higher risk than anyone else for problems involving alcohol?

Unlike traditional alcoholism treatment, which focuses on helping people who are dependent on alcohol, brief interventions—or short, one-on-one counseling sessions—are ideally suited for people who drink in ways that are harmful or abusive.

Analyses of a national sample of individuals with alcohol dependence (alcoholism) reveal five distinct subtypes of the disease, according to a new study by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Girls who suffered childhood sexual abuse are more likely to develop alcoholism later in life if they possess a particular variant of a gene involved in the body’s response to stress, according to a new study.

Often, primary care clinicians inadequately address alcohol use with their patients.