Drinking Prevalence Among 8th, 10th, and 12th Graders 4
	Prevalence 8th Grade 10th Grade 12th Grade Lifetime 47% 66.9% 78.4% Last 30 days 19.6% 35.4% 48.6% Heavy Drinking * 12.4% 22.4% 28.6%
	* Defined as five or more drinks in a row in the previous 2 weeks.

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Drinking Initiation
   The average age of first use of alcohol among individuals of all ages reporting any alcohol use, based on the respondents’ recall of this information, has decreased from 17.6 years in 1965 to 15.9 years in 1999. ⁵ For 12 to 20-year-olds only, the average age of first use in 2000 is even younger—14. ⁶

Prevalence of Youth Drinking Before Age 13, by Ethnicity 7
	Latino 33.7% White 19.6% African American 12.4%

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How Youth Drink
   Although overall alcohol use is low for the youngest age group, almost one-half of the 12-year-olds who reported alcohol use reported having drunk heavily⁸ in the past 30 days. The rate of heavy drinking doubles from age 14 (about 6%) to age 15 (about 12%) and continues to increase steadily. ^9
x
   When reported by race or ethnicity, white youths aged 12–20 have the highest reported rates of heavy drinking (21.4%), followed by American Indians and Alaska Natives (20.3%), Latinos (17.2%), African Americans (10.3%), and Asian-Americans (7.9%). ^10
x
   Despite continual decreases between 1996–2002 in lifetime use among junior high students (eighth graders), nearly one-half (47%) still report drinking in their lifetimes. Similarly, while the proportion of high school seniors who report having had 5 or more drinks in the past 2 weeks has decreased every year since 1998, nearly 30% (28.6) still report such use. ¹¹

College Drinking Patterns
   Nearly half (48%) of all the alcohol consumed by students attending 4-year colleges is consumed by underage students. ^12
x
   According to data from the 2000 NHSDA, 41% of full-time college students aged 18–22 engaged in heavy drinking, compared with 36% of young adults who were attending college part time or not at all. ^13
x

Gender
   As of 2000, the prevalence of alcohol use among boys and girls aged 12–14 and 15–17 were within a few percentage points of each other.
^x
   Girls aged 12–14 in all three racial and ethnic groups, but most notably Hispanic girls, are actually more likely than boys to have used alcohol in the past 30 days — 9.8% of Hispanic females, 8.3% of non-Hispanic white females, and 4.8% of African American females.
^x
   These rates compare with 6.3% of Hispanic males, 7.5% of non-Hispanic white males, and 4.2% of African American males. ¹⁴

Alcohol Use in Past 30 Days, Youth Age 12–14, by Gender
	Girls Boys Hispanic 9.8% 6.3% White 8.3% 7.5% African American 4.8% 4.2%

   In general, the differences between girls and boys is greater for heavy drinking than for recent use: for example, non-Hispanic white males age 18–20 have a 13% higher prevalence for heavy drinking than non-Hispanic white females, compared to a 5.9% for any recent use. Similar patterns are observed in Hispanics and African Americans — Hispanic males have a 14.9% higher prevalence and African American males have a 8.6% higher prevalence for heavy drinking compared to their female counterparts. ¹⁵

Overall Consumption Levels
   Underage youths consume in the range of 10–20% of all drinks and account for a somewhat lower, albeit still substantial, percentage of total expenditures. ¹⁶

Contexts of Underage Drinking
   Of high school seniors, more than one-half of males and more than one-third of females drank beer in the past 30 days. Liquor was a close second — 41.7% and 30.7% of males and females, respectively. ¹⁴

 

1	L.D. Johnston, P.M. O’Malley, and J.G. Bachman, Monitoring the Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2002, Volume I: Secondary School Students (Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2003).
2	Ibid.
3	Ibid.
4	L.D. Johnston, P.M. O’Malley, and J.G. Bachman, Monitoring the Future: National Results on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2002 (Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2003).
5	Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Results from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume I. Summary of National Findings (Rockville, MD: Office of Applied Studies, 2002).
6	S.E. Foster et al., “Alcohol Consumption and Expenditures for Underage Drinking and Adult Excessive Drinking,” The Journal of the American Medical Association 289, no. 8 (Feb. 26, 2003).
7	J.A. Grunbaum et al., “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2001,” MMWR 51, no. SS-4 (June 28, 2002): 44.
8	“Heavy drinking refers to five or more drinks on the same occasion in the past 30 days” (Reducing Underage Drinking, 37). This definition applies for all references to heavy drinking in this fact sheet.
9	R.L. Flewelling, M.J. Paschall, and C. Ringwalt, “The Epidemiology of Underage Drinking in the United States: An Overview,” in Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility, Background Papers (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2004).
10	Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Results from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume I.
11	L.D. Johnston, P.M. O’Malley, and J.G. Bachman, Monitoring the Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 2003.
12	H. Wechsler et al., “Underage College Students’ Drinking Behavior, Access to Alcohol, and the Influence of Deterrence Policies: Findings from the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study,” Journal of American College Health 50, no. 5 (2002): 223-236.
13	Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (Rockville, MD: Office of Applied Studies, 2001).
14	R.L. Flewelling, M.J. Paschall, and C. Ringwalt, “The Epidemiology of Underage Drinking.”
15	Ibid.
16	Committee conclusion.