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Underage Drinking

bulletReports on underage drinking

bulletHighlights on underage drinking

bulletAll reports on alcohol drinking

bulletAll detailed tables on underage and legal age drinking

bulletSAMHSA's latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2007

bulletSAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2006:  About 10.8 million persons aged 12 to 20 (28.3 % of this age group) reported drinking alcohol in the past month. Nearly 7.2 million (19.0%) were binge drinkers, and 2.4 million (6.2%) were heavy drinkers. These figures have remained essentially the same since the 2002 survey.  More males than females aged 12 to 20 reported current alcohol use (29.2% vs. 27.4%, respectively), binge drinking (21.3% vs. 16.5%), and heavy drinking (7.9% vs. 4.3%) in 2006.

bulletCurrent rates of underage drinking by race/ethnicity, region, and size of metropolitan area

bulletUnderage drinking by State & Region: Trends between 2003/2004 and 2004/2005

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Underage Drinking Reports

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Highlights of Reports on Under Age Drinking

newThe NSDUH Report: Trends in Substance Use, Dependence or Abuse, and Treatment Among Adolescents: 2002 to 2007   Based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, adolescent past month use of cigarettes, alcohol, and illicit drugs declined between 2002 and 2007 but little change occurred between 2006 and 2007.   Between 2002 and 2007, past month use by youth of cigarettes declined from 13.0% to 9.8%; alcohol from 17.6% to 15.9% and illicit drugs from 11.6% to 9.5%.   The decline in past month illicit drug use by youth can be attributed primarily to a decline in marijuana use: 8.2% used marijuana in 2002 compared with 6.7% in 2007.   Past year alcohol dependence or abuse among youth remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2007 but illicit drug dependence or abuse declined from 5.6% to 4.3%.   Among adolescents who needed treatment, there were no statistically significant changes in the percentage who received treatment for either alcohol or drugs between 2002 and 2007.

The NSDUH Report: Underage Alcohol Use: Where Do Young People Get Alcohol?   Based on combined data from SAMHSA's 2006 to 2007 National Surveys on Drug Use & Health, an annual average of 28.1% of underage drinkers (10.8 million persons aged 12 to 20) drank alcohol in the past month. By age group within the underage drinkers the rates were: 51.1% of those aged 18 to 20; 25.9% of those age 15 to 17; and 6.1% of those aged 12 to 14.   Underage drinkers who drank in the past month (i.e., current drinkers) obtained their last alcohol drink as follows: 30.6% paid for the last alcoholic drink, 26.4% got it for free from a nonrelative of legal drinking age, 14.6% got it for free from another underage person, 5.9% got it from a parent or guardian, and 8.5% got it from another relative who was of legal drinking age.   Current underage drinkers who paid for their last drink consumed more drinks on average the last time they drank than those who did not pay for their alcohol drink (6.0 drinks vs. 3.9 drinks).

The NSDUH Report:   Underage Alcohol Use: Where Do Young People Drink?   SAMHSA's 2006 National Survey on Drug Use & Health indicated that more than a fourth of the persons under the legal age for drinking actually drank in the past month; that is, there were 10.8 million current underage drinkers.   Over a half (53.4%) of the current underage alcohol users drank at someone else's home the last time they used alcohol and another 30.3% drank in their own home.   Younger female underage drinkers were more likely than older ones to have had their most recent drink in a car or other vehicle. For example, female underage drinkers aged 16 were eight times more likely to have had their last drank in a car than those aged 20 (12.8% vs. 1.6%).   Among current underage drinkers aged 20, females were almost twice as likely as males to have had their most recent drink in a restaurant, bar, or club (20.0% vs. 10.2%).

The NSDUH Report:  Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use among Underage Drinkers     Based on combined data from SAMHSA's 2005 to 2006 National Surveys on Drug Use & Health, an annual average of 28.3% of underage drinkers (10.8 million persons aged 12 to 20) drank alcohol in the past month.  Underage drinkers who drank in the past month used alcohol an average of 5.9 days in the past month and consumed an average of 4.9 alcoholic drinks per day on the days they drank in the past month.  Person under the legal age consumed, on average, more drinks per days on the days they drank in the past month than drinkers of legal age (4.9 drinks vs. 2.8 drinks).

The NSDUH Report: Depression and the Initiation of Alcohol and Other Drug Use among Youths Aged 12 to 17   Data from SAMHSA's 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health were used to examine the following in the past year: major depressive episode, initiation of alcohol or illicit drug use, and the association between such new alcohol and/or illicit drug use and major depressive episode. In 2005, 8.8% of youth (about 2.2 million youth) had experienced at least one major depressive episode during the past year.   Rates of major depressive episode varied by gender and age. About 2.7 million youth (15.4% of the youth who had not used alcohol previously) used alcohol for the first time in the past year.   About 1.5 million youth (7.6% of the youth who had not used an illicit drug previously) used at least one illicit drug in the past year. Among youth who had not used alcohol or an illicit drug previously, those with a major depressive episode were about twice as likely to start using alcohol or an illicit drug as youth who had not experienced a major depressive episode in the past year.   Among youth who had not used alcohol previously, 29.2% of those with a major depressive episode initiated alcohol use compared with 14.5% youth who had not experienced a major depressive episode in the past year. Among youth who had not used an illicit drug previously, 16.1% of those with a major depressive episode initiated illicit drug use compared with 6.9% youth who had not experienced a major depressive episode in the past year.

The NSDUH Report:  Underage Alcohol Use among Full-time College Students SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use & Health examined trends and patterns in the rates of alcohol use by full time college students aged 18 to 20 and found that the rates of past month, binge, and heavy alcohol use remained steady from 2002 to 2005. Binge drinking was defined as 5 or more drinks on the same occasion at least one day in the past month. Based on combined data from the 2002 to 2005 National Surveys on Drug Use & Health, 57.8% of full time college students underage for legal drinking used alcohol in the past month, 40.1% engaged in binge drinking, and 16.6% engaged in heavy drinking. Males were more likely than females to have used alcohol in the past month (60.4% vs. 55.6%), binge drank (46.9% vs. 34.4%), or drank heavily (22.7% vs. 11.5%).

 The NSDUH Report:  State Estimates of Underage Drinking   This report on underaged drinking (by persons aged 12 to 20) is based on State level data combined from 2 years of data, i.e. from SAMHSA's 2003 and 2004 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. Data are annualized estimates, that is, an average per year estimate is calculated from the combined data years. In 2003-2004, past month alcohol use rates for persons aged 12 to 20 were among the lowest in Utah (18.6%) and Tennessee (22.3%) and among the highest in North Dakota (42.7%) and South Dakota (39.1%). Between 2002-2003 and 2003-2004, past month alcohol use increased in California (from 24.7 to 26.3%) and Wisconsin (from 34.7% to 38.3%) while binge alcohol drinking increased in Iowa (from 24.7% to 27.7%) and Oklahoma (from 19.1% to 21.5%). Past month alcohol drinking decreased between 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 in South Carolina (from 27.2% to 24.1%) and Michigan (from 31.8% to 30.2%); while binge alcohol drinking decreased in South Carolina and North Carolina (both from 18.0% to 15.9%) and in Tennessee (from 15.9% to 13.1%).

The NSDUH Report:  Substance Use and Employment among Youths Aged 15 to 17   Based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 33.7% of youths aged 15 to 17 were employed either part or fulltime during the past week. Employed youths were more likely than youths who were not employed to have used alcohol (35.9% vs. 24.4%), to have engaged in binge alcohol use (24.6% vs. 15.2%), and to have used an illicit drug (19.4% vs. 15.6%) during the past month. Youths working 20 or more hours per week were more likely than those working 19 or fewer hours per week to have drunk alcohol (41.1% vs. 33.8%), to have binged on alcohol (29.0% vs. 23.1%), and to have used any illicit drug (22.3% vs. 18.5%) during the past month.

 The DAWN Report:  Emergency Department Visits Involving Underage Drinking   An estimated 142,701 alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits reported to SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) system were made by patients aged 12 to 20.  Nearly half (42%) of drug-related ED visits among patients aged 12 to 20 involved alcohol.  Patients aged 18 to 20 were approximately 3 times as likely as patients aged 12 to 17 to have an alcohol-related ED visit.  ED visits involving alcohol with other drugs were almost 2 times as likely as visits involving only alcohol to result in admission to the hospital for inpatient care (19% vs. 10%). 

The NSDUH Report:  Binge Alcohol Use among Persons Aged 12 to 20:  2002 and 2003 Update   Binge drinking is defined as 5 or more drinks on the same occasion at least one day in the past month. Based on annual averages from SAMHSA's 2002 and 2003 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, there were approximately 7.2 million persons under the legal drinking age who were past month binge alcohol users. Rates for current underage binge drinking among those aged 12 to 20 was lowest in Utah (13.7%) and highest in North Dakota (32.5%). Among binge drinkers aged 12 to 20, 49.3% reported binge alcohol use on 1 or 2 days in the past month, 18.7% reported 2 or 3 days, 11.5% reported 5 or 6 days, and 20.5% reported binge drinking on 7 or more days in the past month.

The NSDUH Report:  Mother's Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use among Youths   Based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2002 and 2003, an annual average of 18 million women aged 18 or older lived with a biological, foster, step, or adoptive child aged 12 to 17. About 11.9% of mothers (2.1 million) living with youths aged 12 to 17 had serious mental illness during the past year. About 3.2% of the mothers had both a serious mental illness and also reported illicit drug use, binge alcohol use, or heavy alcohol use during the past month. Youths living with a mother who had serious mental illness (SMI) were more likely to have used alcohol or an illicit drug during the past month (26.7%) than youths living with a mother who did not have SMI (18.8%).

The NSDUH Report:  Alcohol Use and Delinquent Behaviors among Youths    Youths who reported heavy alcohol use in the past month were the most likely to have participated in any of the six delinquent behaviors assessed in SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Heavy drinking was defined as drinking five or more alcoholic beverages on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days. All heavy alcohol users are also binge alcohol users, i.e., drank five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least one day in the past 30 days. In 2003, an estimated 9 million (36.1%) youths aged 12 to 17 had engaged in at least one delinquent behavior in the past year. Almost 6 million (23.8%) took part in a serious fight at school or work; 4.5 million (18.1%) took part in a group-against-group fight; 2.1 million (8.3%) attacked someone with the intent to seriously hurt them; 1.1 million (4.5%) stole or tried to steal something worth more than $50; over 900,000 (3.6%) sold illegal drugs; and over 900,000 (3.6%) carried a handgun during the past year.

The NSDUH Report:  Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Among Young Persons   Data from SAMHSA's 2002 and 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health were pooled to examine the prevalence of driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or other drugs while driving by young persons aged 16 to 20.  An annual average of 4.2 million persons aged 16 to 20 reported driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs during the past year.  About 169,000 of these persons (4%) reported that they had been arrested and booked for DUI/ DWI involving alcohol or drugs in the past year. Among persons aged 16 to 20, 17% reported past year DUI/ DWI involving alcohol, 14% reported past year DUI/ DWI involving illicit drugs, and 8% reported past year DUI/ DWI involving a combination of alcohol and illicit drugs used together.

The NSDUH Report:  Alcohol Dependence or Abuse and Age at First Use   In 2003, almost 74% of adults age 21 or older reported that they had started drinking alcohol before the current legal drinking age of 21: 4% started drinking before age 12; 14% started between ages 12-14; 33% started between ages 15-17; and 22% started drinking between ages 18-20. Among the 14 million adults aged 21 or older who were classified as having past year alcohol dependence or abuse, more than 13 million (95%) had started drinking alcohol before age 21. In SAMHSA's 2003 National Survey on Drug Use & Health, persons reporting first use of alcohol before age 15 were more than 5 times as likely to report past year alcohol dependence or abuse than persons who first used alcohol at age 21 or older (16% vs. 3%).

The NSDUH Report:  Underage Drinking in Rural Areas   Based on SAMHSA's 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, rates of current underage drinking among youth aged 12 to 17 was higher in rural than nonrural areas. Current underage drinking among those aged 18 to 20, however, were higher in nonrural areas. Rural youth aged 12 to 17 reported lower levels of perceived risk from alcohol use, less disapproval of alcohol use, and less perceived parental disapproval of underage drinking than those in nonrural areas. Binge drinking (defined as 5 or more drinks on the same occasion at least one day in the past month) was also higher among rural youth age 12 to 17 (4.1%) than nonrural (1.6%) but did not differ by rural status for those aged 18 to 20.

The NSDUH Report:  Substance Use Among Youths Who Had Run Away From Home    Based on SAMHSA's 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 1.6 million youth (7%) aged 12 to 17 had run away from home and slept on the street in the past 12 months. Among youths aged 12 or 13, 6% had run away and among those aged 16 or 17, 10% had run away from home in the past 12 months. Youths who had run away from home in the past 12 months were more likely to have used alcohol, marijuana, or an illicit drug other than marijuana in the past year than youths who had not run away. Alcohol was used in the past year by 50% of the runaway youths aged 12 to 17 and 33% of those who had not run away from home. Marijuana was used in the past year by 23% of the runaways aged 12 to 18 and 12% of those who had not run away from home.

The NSDUH Report:  Graduated Driver Licensing and Drinking Among Young Drivers   Based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 21% of young drivers aged 15 to 17 were binge drinkers and 6% were heavy drinkers during the combined years of 1999 to 2001. Rates of heavy drinking and binge drinking among young drivers varied by the States' Graduated Driver Licensing ratings, based on the extent to which they restrict driving behavior among young drivers. This report identifies the States categorized from most restrictive to least restrictive according to the 4 category rating scheme developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Traffic Injury Research Foundation.

The DASIS Report: Treatment Admissions for Primary Alcohol Abuse Among Youth Aged 18-20; 2001  In 2001, 60% of the 112,000 substance abuse treatment admissions aged 18-20 reported to SAMHSA's Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), involved alcohol. Admissions aged 18-20 for alcohol only were more likely to have been referred by the criminal justice system (70%) than admissions for alcohol with a secondary drug (56%).  Alcohol only treatment admissions aged 18-20 were less likely to have started using alcohol prior to the age of 13 than admissions for alcohol with a secondary drug (12% vs. 23%). 

The NHSDA Report:  Comparison of Substance Use in Australia and the United States   Between 1998 and 2001, past year use of "any illicit drug" decreased in Australia while past year use of any illicit drug increased between 2000 and 2001 in the United States.  Among teenagers aged 14 to 19, girls in both Australia and the United States had comparable or higher rates than the boys in their country for past year use of alcohol, amphetamines, and cocaine.  The teenaged boys had higher rates than the girls for past year marijuana use.  The legal drinking age in Australia is age 18 compared to age 21 in the United States; however, the average age of first use of alcohol was earlier for U.S. drinkers (age 15.9 years) than for Australian drinkers (age 17.1 years). 

The NHSDA Report:  Alcohol Use by Persons Under the Legal Drinking Age of 21    SAMHSA's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse estimates that in 2001, about 10.1 million persons aged 12 to 20 used alcohol in the past month.  Nearly 3 million of this age group were dependent on or abused alcohol in the past year but only about 400,000 received any type of alcohol treatment in the past year.  Furthermore, nearly 3 million persons aged 16 to 20 were estimated to have driven under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year. 

The NHSDA Report:  Binge Drinking Among Underage Persons   In 2000, almost 7 million persons aged 12 to 20 (under the legal drinking age) was a binge drinker.  The rate of binge drinking among underage persons (19 percent) was almost as high as among adults aged 21 or older (21 percent).  Underage persons who reported binge drinking were 7 times more likely to report illicit drugs during the past month than underage persons who did not binge drink. 

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SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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