 |
What you should know
2002 National Survey on Drug Use & Health
The Background Info:
These values were gathered from a set of questions asking about the recency and frequency of the
consumption of alcoholic beverages. A “drink” is defined as a can or bottle of beer, a glass of wine or a wine cooler, a shot
of liquor, or a mixed drink with a shot in it. For these figures, alcohol use is reported at three levels defined as follows:
- Current Use – At least one drink in the past 30 days.
- Binge* Use – Five or more drinks on the same occasion, at least once in the past 30 days.
- Heavy Use – Five or more drinks on the same occasion, at least 5 days in the past 30 days.
The Important Stuff:
In the 2002 survey, 51.0% of Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol. This translates to an
estimated 120 million people. Both the rate of alcohol use and the number of drinkers increased from 2001, when 109
million, or 48.3% of people aged 12 or older were reported as current users.
More than one fifth (22.9%) of persons aged 12 or older participated in binge drinking at least once in the 30 days prior to
the survey. This translates to about 54 million people.
Heavy drinking was reported by 6.7% of the population aged 12 and older, or 15.9 million people.
The highest prevalence of both binge and heavy drinking in 2002 was for young adults aged 18 to 25, with the peak rate
of both measures occurring at age 21. The rate of binge drinking was 40.9% for young adults and 50.2% at age 21. Heavy
alcohol use was reported by 14.9% of persons aged 18 to 25 and by 20.1% of persons aged 21.
Young adults aged 18 to 22 enrolled full time in college were more likely than their peers not enrolled full time (this
category includes part-time college students and persons not enrolled in college) to report all three levels in 2002. Past
month alcohol use was reported by 64.1% of full-time college students compared with 54.3% of persons 18 to 22 who
were not currently enrolled full time. Binge and heavy use rates for college students were 44.4% and 18.8%, respectively,
compared with 38.9% and 13.4%, respectively, for other persons aged 18 to 22.
Among persons aged 18 to 22, full-time college students were more likely to be heavy drinkers than others (18.8% and
13.4%, respectively). However, at later ages (26 or older), those who had attended college were less likely to drink heavily
than those who had not attended college (5.2% and 6.7%, respectively).
In 2002, males aged 12 or older, including college students, were more likely than their female peers to report past month
alcohol drinking. Fifty-seven and a half percent of males were current drinkers compared with forty-fi ve percent of
females.
*The term “binge drinking” was originally coined by the Harvard School of Public Health and has many different definitions.
The Core Institute’s 2003 Statistics on Alcohol and Other Drug Use
The Background Info:
The following statistics are drawn from a sample of 38,875 undergraduate students from 89 two- and four-year
colleges located in the United States. A “drink” is defined as a can or bottle of beer, a glass of wine or a wine cooler, a
shot of liquor, or a mixed drink with a shot in it. For these figures, alcohol use is reported as “general drinking” during
the past year.
The Important Stuff:
25.3% of college students have NOT consumed any alcohol in the past month.
50.2% of college students have had 0-5 drinks in the last two weeks.
66.1% of college students have NOT missed a class because of alcohol use.
67.5% of college students have NOT gotten in a fight or argument because of their drinking.
76.2% of college students have NOT performed poorly on a test or project because of their alcohol or drug use.
85.2% of college students have NOT had trouble with police or authorities because of their drinking.
91.3% of college students have NOT damaged property as a result of alcohol or drug use.
70.4% of college students have NOT driven under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.
|
