A new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows a significant decline in the level of past month (current) underage alcohol consumption, as well as a drop in underage binge drinking.
The report shows that level of current underage drinking among those aged 12 to 20 decreased from 28.8 percent in 2002 to 22.7 percent in 2013.
Likewise, the level of current underage binge drinking also declined from 19.3 percent in 2002 to 14.2 percent in 2013. Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on at least one day in the past 30 days.
Despite this reduction, however, more youths aged 12 to 20 currently use alcohol (22.7 percent) than use tobacco (16.9 percent) or use illicit drugs (13.6 percent).
SAMHSA also has materials for how parents can talk to their children in a variety of situations — including teenagers who are heading off to college: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXOVzTpjDrA
The report, Underage Drinking Declined Between 2002 and 2013 is based on SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health report, an annual national survey of 67,5000 Americans aged 12 and older.
Source: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_1978/Spotlight-1978.pdf