NCJ Number
216452
Date Published
2006
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report briefly examines the trends and patterns in the rates of alcohol use among full-time college students who have not yet reached the legal age of drinking.
Abstract
Highlights of findings include: (1) the rates of past month, binge, and heavy alcohol use among full-time college students age 18 to 20 remained steady from 2002 to 2005; (2) based on 2002 to 2005 combined data, 57.8 percent of full-time college students, age 18 to 20 used alcohol in the past month, 40.1 percent engaged in binge alcohol use, and 16.6 percent engaged in heavy alcohol use; (3) based on 2002 to 2005 combined data, male full-time students in this age group were more likely to have used alcohol in the past month, engaged in binge alcohol use, and engaged in heavy alcohol use than their female counterparts; and (4) data for the 2005 survey indicate that young adults aged 18 to 22 enrolled full-time in college were more likely than their peers not enrolled full-time to use alcohol in the past month, binge drink, and drink heavily. Over the last decade underage alcohol use, binge drinking among college students, and its negative consequences have received increased attention. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) asks respondents age 12 or older to report their frequency and quantity of alcohol use during the month before the survey. This report presents an overview of the prevalence of alcohol use among full-time college students who have not yet reached the legal drinking age based on data from the 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 NSDUH.