Among youth, reported number of binge drinking episodes is considered a marker for dangerous or hazardous use. Prevalence rates for U.S. high school student binge drinking are estimated to be approximately 10.3%, 21.9%, and 25.9 % for 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students, indicating an increase in dangerous drinking behaviors with age (Johnston et al., 2008). Moreover, information gained from 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students through the annual MTF survey (Johnston et al., 2008) shows that although more 12th grade boys than girls report binge drinking (30.7% versus 21.5%), this difference is considerably less among 10th grade adolescents (23.4% versus 20.4%), and in the case of 8th graders, the difference is negligible (10.4% versus 10.0%).
