National Survey on Drug Use and Health

According to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 10.0 million Americans between ages 12-20 report current alcohol consumption; this represents nearly 26% of this age group for whom alcohol consumption is illegal.

Among 12-20 year olds, rates of current, binge, and heavy alcohol consumption declined between 2002 and 2010. Since the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health past month consumption has dropped almost 9% proportionately, binge drinking down 12%, and heavy alcohol use down 17%. (Source: SAMHSA, 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2011)

Among older age groups, the prevalence of current alcohol consumption decreases with increasing age, however, among America’s youth the rate of underage drinking increases with increasing age according to the 2010 survey, ranging from 2% at age 12 to 5% at age 13, 9% at age 14, 16% at age 15, 21% at age 16, 28% at age 17, 42% at age 18, 49% at age 19, and 56% at age 20. (Source: SAMHSA, 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2011)

Monitoring the Future

The 2011 Monitoring the Future survey revealed underage drinking among teens continues its long-term decline, decreasing considerably from peak consumption levels recorded in the mid-1990s. In 2011 all three grade levels surveyed (8th, 10th, and 12th) showed further reductions in alcohol consumption on all measures – lifetime, annual, 30-day, daily, and binge drinking. From 2010 to 2011 the reported decreases in consumption were statistically significant on all of these measures.

• The latest edition of the survey revealed, in 2011, 12th graders had the lowest recorded level of underage drinking since the inception of the Monitoring the Future Study in 1975 and that 8th and 10th graders also experienced the lowest levels since 1991 when they were added to the study sample.

One in three students report they have consumed alcohol at least once by the end of eighth grade and seven out of ten students have done so by the end of high school. That is, 33% of eighth grade students, 56% of tenth graders, and 70% of twelfth graders report they have tried alcohol at least once in their lifetime. These figures represent a decline in lifetime alcohol consumption among students in all three grade levels. (Source: University of Michigan, Monitoring the Future, 2011)

Likewise, there was a decline in the annual rate of underage drinking among 8th, 10th and 12th graders from 2010 to 2011. Annual consumption rates among students in all three grades declined nearly two percentage points proportionally from 2010 to 2011, with statistically significant decreases recorded for 8th and 10th graders all three grade levels reached new record low levels – the annual rate of consumption reported was 27%, 50% and 64%, respectively.

Reported rates of monthly consumption also declined among all three grade levels. The 2011 Monitoring the Future Study revealed past 30-day consumption among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders was down 1.1. 1.8, and 1.2 percentage points, respectively, over the past year. Ten-year and 20-year trends continue to show significant reductions at each of these three grade levels. (Source: University of Michigan, Monitoring the Future, 2011)

Click here to see more Underage Drinking Charts.

Over the past two decades the proportion of students reporting pat month consumption has declined nearly in half among 8th graders, by more than one-third among 10th graders, and about one quarter among high school seniors. Specifically, 13% of 8th graders report consuming alcohol in the past month, down 49% proportionally from 25% in 1991. Tenth graders’ reported monthly consumption rate is down nearly 36% from 43% in 1991 to 27% in 2011, and 12th graders’ 30-day consumption rate of 40% is down 26% proportionally from 54% in 1991. All three grade levels 30-day prevalence ratings reached record low levels in 2011. (Source: University of Michigan, Monitoring the Future, 2011)

The percentage of students at all three grade levels who said they had been drunk in the month prior to the survey decreased from 2010 to 2011. In 2011, 4% of 8th graders, 14% of 10th graders, and 25% of 12th graders reported they had been drunk in the past 30-days – reaching historic low levels among students in all three grade levels. (Source: University of Michigan, Monitoring the Future, 2011)

Reported incidents of binge drinking , that is having five or more drinks in a row in the last two weeks, also declined in all three grade levels in 2011 and reached new record low levels among 8th, 10th and 12th graders, including a statistically significant one-year decrease among high school sophomores. Six percent of 8th graders, 15% of 10th graders, and 22% of 12th graders reports binge drinking in the past two weeks. (Source: University of Michigan, Monitoring the Future, 2011)

Since the inception of The Century Council in 1991 the proportion of students who have reported consuming alcohol in their lifetime, annually, in the past 30 days, or binge drinking has decreased among eighth, tenth and twelfth grade students.