Research shows the typical American child will be exposed to 160,000 to 180,000 beer ads before reaching legal drinking age. But parental rules and role modeling makes the greatest difference.

The average age when children start experimenting with drinking is 11-12.

One of the biggest contributors to underage drinking is adults supplying the alcohol.

60 percent of teens that commit suicide are involved with alcohol or drugs.

The number one way teens contract the AIDS virus is sex while drinking.

Nearly 10,000 teenage alcohol/drug related deaths occur each year.

Drunk driving is a leading cause of death among Americans aged 5 to 28. Alcohol is still the number one drug problem for youth. Alcohol is a depressant that affects the body by slowing down the central nervous system.

More than 3,000,000 teens are alcoholics.

One in every five 14-17 year olds is a problem drinker, and five percent of high school students are daily drinkers.

45 percent of college students are "binge drinkers" (have at least 5 drinks per occasion every 2 weeks.)

70 percent of adolescents ages 13-14 have consumed alcohol by eighth grade.

Teenagers can become alcoholics within 2 to 6 months of taking their first drink because their bodies are still growing; this continues until approximately 24 years of age.

*Young people who begin drinking before age 15 were four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence (alcohol addiction, commonly known as alcoholism) than those who began drinking at age 21, researchers found.

*Note: The younger the age of drinking onset, the greater the chance that an individual at some point in life will develop a clinically defined alcohol disorder, according to a new report released today by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.