Past Month Alcohol Use Among Minors (Table 7.9)

Another view of alcohol use is provided in Table 7.9 where the prevalence of alcohol use in the past month is shown separately for minors younger than 21 and for adults aged 21 or older. Overall and for most demographic subgroups, the prevalence of any current alcohol use was lower among minors than among adults older than 20. Nevertheless, rates of alcohol use among persons younger than 21 were substantial, with almost one-third of this population reporting past month use, 14% reporting "binge" use, and 6% reporting heavy use.

Table 7.9 also provides estimates of the prevalence of "binge" drinking in the past month by persons younger than 21 compared with those aged 21 or older. Notably, almost all rates of "binge" drinking among minors aged 21 or younger were roughly equal to, and for some demographic subgroups much higher than, the rates reported by adults aged 21 or older. Specifically, the prevalence of "binge" drinking was higher among females under age 21 than among older women. For every level of education attained by persons 18 years old or older, "binge" drinking was approximately twice as prevalent among those 18 to 20 as among those who had reached the age of majority. Similarly, "binge" drinking was from one and a half to over four times more prevalent among those aged 18 to 20 employed either full-time or part-time or classified in the "other" employment category than among adults aged 21 or older in these employment categories, but it was equally prevalent among unemployed persons.

Heavy alcohol use also was equally or more prevalent among minors aged 18 to 20 than among adults aged 21 or older, overall and for virtually all demographic subgroups. About the same proportions of minors and adults reported drinking heavily overall and within each gender, racial/ethnic group, area of more or less dense population, and region. Among categories of educational achievement and current employment, however, minors aged 18 to 20 were from two to three times more likely than the persons aged 21 or older to have used alcohol heavily. The only exception to this last finding was that the rates of heavy drinking among unemployed minors aged 18 to 20 and adults aged 21 or older were about the same.

This page was last updated on December 30, 2008.