NCJ Number
197930
Date Published
April 2002
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This report presents information about underage binge drinking from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA).
Abstract
The NHSDA defines binge drinking as consuming five or more drinks on the same occasion at least once during the month prior to the survey. The NHSDA was administered to approximately 35,000 persons 12- to 20-years-old to determine the prevalence of binge drinking among this population. According to self-reported data, an estimated 46 million people aged 12 and over are binge drinkers. Almost 7 million of these binge drinkers are under 21, the legal drinking age. Persons 17- to 20-years-old were more likely to report binge drinking at least once during the past month than the total population aged 12 and over. The 2000 NHSDA also revealed that underage females were more likely to report binge drinking behavior than were females aged 21 and older. The survey reports on a link between binge drinking and the use of illicit drugs. According to the survey data, underage persons who reported binge drinking were 9 times more likely to have used marijuana during the past month, while 6 percent of underage binge drinkers reported using other illicit drugs during the month prior to the survey. The 2000 NHSDA data also revealed that among the population 18- to 22-years-old, those enrolled in college full-time were more likely to binge drink than those not enrolled in a full-time college program. Of these college binge drinkers, 21-year- olds reported the highest rates of binge drinking. 4 Figures, 1 table