Almost 70% of students said they either never drink or drink no more than one or two drinks in a year. Younger students reported the least alcohol consumption. The percentage of students who reported drinking at least weekly climbed until the age of 17, then dropped slightly. Across the entire sample, only 14 percent of the respondents said they drink at least once a week.

The majority of students reported that their friends drink, and a striking 79% believed that other students in their school drink weekly. Interestingly, the perception of high levels of alcohol consumption among peers was slightly higher among younger students than older students.

Girls were more likely than boys to say that they don’t typically drink in a week. African Americans were less likely to say they ever drink then either Latino or White students, and those black students who did said they drank alcohol, claimed to use less frequently than white and Hispanic students.

The majority said they never drank at parties. However, 12 percent of the students reported levels of drinking at parties that would be considered “binge drinking,” that is consuming five or more drinks at a single event. Sixteen percent of the students perceived that their friends binge drink, and 39 percent sensed that other students binge drink at parties. Thus, though the students themselves reported drinking in moderation at parties, they felt that their peers drink much more heavily.

Binge drinking was reported by more white students than Latino and African American students. Older students were also more likely to report heavy drinking at parties. There was little difference in reported binge drinking between boys and girls.

Nearly half of the students agreed that “drinking is never a good think for teenagers to do,” but few thought that other students believed that. Instead, they sensed that other students would either support getting drunk as long as it didn’t get in the way of responsibilities or believed that getting drunk is okay if it was what the teenager wanted to do.

Although a fair number of students admitted to fighting regularly with their parents or getting into trouble at school, far fewer said they participated in risky alcohol-related behaviors (like getting drunk, driving after drinking, or missing schoolwork because of drinking). However, the students were very likely to suggest that their peers participated in risky activities.

Fewer than half of the students remembered seeing any alcohol prevention campaign materials in the previous year. Girls, white students, and high school students were more likely to remember, though, than boys, minority students, or middle-schoolers.