National Institutes of Health

People who begin drinking before the age of fifteen are at a substantially greater risk of developing an alcohol disorder than those who do not imbibe until they are twenty-one or older, editors from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) argue in the following viewpoint. Moreover, the NIH contends that the overall risk for alcoholism decreases 14 percent with each year of age that drinking is postponed. The NIH, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is comprised of eighteen different research institutes including the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In the NIH’s opinion, what is the difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse"
2. According to HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala, what message concerning underage...