Alcohol consumption is seen to be a natural thing when it comes to the youth. Using fake IDs and any means to get their lips to a bottle of booze, parents' of those who don't drink are proud of their children. However, those who don't drink now, specifically young girls, may pick up the habit later and binge drink when they get to college.

According to a new study by lead researcher Maria Testa, senior scientist at University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions, many young girls who don't drink in high school, will drink in college to the extent of binging.

In the study, Testa' and a team of researchers followed 437 young women from high school graduation through freshman year of college and discovered that those who never drank heavily in high school, reported to have heavy episodic drinking in their first college semester at least once.

Study also found that young women who were already engaged in binge drinking in high school continued drinking at similar levels in college.

Testa pointed out that drinking-prevention efforts should start before college, and for the parents to talk with their teenagers about drinking before they go to college regardless of drinking habits in high school.

Dangers of Binge Drinking

Binge drinking is not uncommon among teenagers. In fact, binging often occurs between the ages of 18 and 22, and that as much as 42% of college students binge drink, Lear-About-Alcoholism.com reported.

What's alarming about this is that those who binge drink expose themselves to a lot of risks. Increasing the risk is especially the case when it comes to young women as they are more prone to being sexually victimized.

In Testa's study, she found that for young women whose biggest binge included four to six drinks, a quarter of them reported to have been sexually victimized in the fall semester of college.

But not just women are at risk to the dangers of binging. Other risks that people get when they take to the bottle are: alcohol poisoning; liver disease; high blood pressure; stroke, and other forms of cardiovascular disease; neurological damage; intentional injuries, such as those from firearms and domestic violence; and unsafe sexual activity.

Even with all its risks and dangers, why do people binge drink? According to KidsHealth.org, the reasons are:

- Liquor stores, bars and alcoholic beverage companies make drinking seem attractive and fun

- Curiosity and the want to know what it's like to drink alcohol

- Belief that it will make them feel good, when in fact, it came make them sick and hung-over

- Drinking as a way to reduce stress, even though it can end up creating more