Teenage drinking is on the rise, and one of the primary concerns is teenage girls' drinking. In 2002, for the first time, teenage girls were more likely than boys to have had a drink at least once in the past month. A new study offers one potential explanation for the rise: magazine ads showing up in publications read by teenagers, and especially by teenage girls. In 2001 and 2002, alcohol companies spent more than $590 million on 6,200 national magazine ads, many in publications geared toward the younger generation.

What the researchers wanted to know: How much alcohol advertising are teenagers exposed to in magazines?

What they did: The researchers, led by sociologist David Jernigan of Georgetown University, looked at data from 2001 and 2002 on magazine readership and ad placement, normally used by marketers and advertising managers. They counted 6239 ads for 255 brands of alcohol in 103 periodicals. The researchers separated the ads into four categories: beer and ale, distilled spirits, low-alcohol refreshers (such as wine coolers or hard lemonade), and wine. They compared the number of ads for alcohol in each magazine with the publications' reports that advertisers use to determine who's seeing their ads.

What they found: On average, 45 percent more beer and ale ads, 12 percent more ads for distilled spirits, and 65 percent more ads for low-alcohol refreshers reached teenage readers than people over 21. Wine was the only type of alcohol advertised to an audience composed of more legal age than underage people. Based on the demographic data, teenage girls were exposed to slightly more beer and ale as well as low-alcohol refresher ads than women between the ages of 21 and 34, which is the target group for many advertisers, and were only 13 percent less likely, on average, to see ads for distilled spirits. All alcoholic beverage ads were more likely to reach men between the ages of 21 and 34 than teenage boys.

What it means to you: Teenage drinking has been linked to less educational achievement, more drunk-driving deaths, risky sexual behavior, and increased risk of attempting suicide. The authors call it a "serious public health problem in the United States" and say that efforts must be made to curb underage drinking. The prevalence of magazine ads, especially ads in publications widely read by teenagers, could be one factor in the increase in teenage drinking.

Caveats: This study's results support earlier, similar studies showing a high percentage of teenagers are exposed to ads for alcohol. Still, none of them prove that these ads cause teenage drinking—likely it is caused by a lot of factors that are different for every teenager.

Find out more: The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has a great website with information and reports on a variety of topics related to alcohol, including teenage drinking.

Read the article: Jernigan, D.H., Ostroff, J., Ross, C. and J.A. O'Hara. "Sex Differences in Adolescent Exposure to Alcohol Advertising in Magazines." Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. July 2004, Vol. 158, pp. 629–634.

Abstract online: http://archpedi.ama-assn.org