How Much Are Young People Drinking?

How many times a month do young people drink? How much alcohol do they consume? A recent SAMHSA report offers data to help raise awareness.

The report, Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use among Underage Drinkers, from SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) presents findings from combined 2005 and 2006 NSDUH data about the drinking habits of people age 12 to 20.

An annual average of 28.3 percent of young persons age 12 to 20 in the United States (about 10.8 million people) drank alcohol in the past month.

While people age 21 or older averaged more days of alcohol consumption in the past month than underage drinkers (8.7 versus 5.9 days), underage drinkers averaged more drinks per day on the days they drank in the past month than legal drinkers (4.9 versus 2.8 drinks).

The report indicates that college-age underage drinkers (age 18 to 20) drank more often in the past month and drank more on each occasion than younger underage drinkers (age 12 to 17).

For example, young adults age 18 to 20 were 3 times as likely as youth age 12 to 17 to have used alcohol in the past month (51.4 versus 16.6 percent).

In addition, underage drinkers age 18 to 20 consumed alcohol on more days in the past month than those age 12 to 17 (6.7 versus 4.6 days). They also averaged more drinks per day than their counterparts age 12 to 17 (5.2 versus 4.5 drinks).

Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use among Underage Drinkers is available on SAMHSA’s Web site at www.oas.samhsa.gov. For more information on underage drinking, read SAMHSA News online, March/April 2007.