Stress doesn't just affect adults, a new study from the Partnership for a Drug Free America reports teenage girls are drinking more than boys now, and they're doing it because they're stressed.

The study shows an 11 percent increase in girls drinking from 53 to 59 percent, in just one year; while the percentage of teenage boys drinking stayed the same at around 52 percent.

Ken Van Es is a father of three kids, the youngest recently turned 18. He says the pressures put on his children during their teenage years is incredible.

“I think the pressures on teens now a days is enormous, they have to strive to get good grades, and they have to figure out what they want to do with their life earlier than I did I think,” he says.

And that pressure is leading girls to drink more, says Tom Fuchs, the Director of the L.E. Phillips Libertas, a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Chippewa Falls.

“It's actually a pretty normal thing to think about that they are responding to stress in a way that America does, in times of stress people turn to alcohol to forget about their problems,” Fuchs’ says.

But Fuchs says beginning to drink so heavily at such a young age can have very damaging effects. He says when teens start drinking heavily and consistently before they turn 18 they are four times more likely to become addicted later in life.

“I would love to say that girls are just as safe as boys once they get into a case where they are socially lubricated, but I don't think they are, I don't think the rules are the same for girls as they are for boys, unfortunately,” he says.

But that didn't make any difference for Ken Van Es, and his no drinking policy at home.

“The standard was the same for my son as it was for my two daughters, and the standard was it wasn't an acceptable behavior and therefore we weren’t going to tolerate it,” he says.

In Eau Claire County schools, about 54 percent of teenage boys and girls drink according to a Pride Survey Report. That survey also shows the average age kids start drinking in Eau Claire County is 13.