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Prevalence

  • Prevalence of Drinking: According to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 49.3% of full-time college students ages 18–22 drank alcohol in the past month.1
  • Prevalence of Binge Drinking: According to the 2021 NSDUH, 27.4% of full-time college students ages 18–22 reported binge drinking in the past month.1
  • Prevalence of Heavy Alcohol Use: According to the 2021 NSDUH, 7.3% of full-time college students ages 18–22 reported heavy alcohol use in the past month.2
  • 1 Calculated using past 30-day quantity and frequency of alcohol use and past 30-day frequency of binge drinking (4+ drinks for females and 5+ drinks for males on the same occasion) from the 2021 NSDUH public-use data file. SAMHSA, Center for Behavioral Statistics and Quality [Internet]. 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH-2021-DS0001). Public-use file dataset, 2021. [cited 2023 Mar 3]. Available from: https://www.datafiles.samhsa.gov/dataset/national-survey-drug-use-and-health-2021-nsduh-2021-ds0001
  • 2 The estimates are weighted by the person-level analysis weight and derived from the CBHSQ 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH-2021-DS0001) public-use data file. Past-month alcohol use: a drink of an alcoholic beverage (a can or bottle of beer, a glass of wine or a wine cooler, a shot of distilled spirits, or a mixed drink with distilled spirits in it), not counting a sip or two from a drink in the past 30 days. Past-month binge alcohol use: five or more drinks on the same occasion for males or four or more drinks on the same occasion for females on at least 1 day in the past 30 days. Past-month heavy alcohol use: five or more drinks on the same occasion for males or four or more drinks on the same occasion for females on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days. Full-time college students: full-time students ages 18 to 25 enrolled in school at the college level. Other persons ages 18 to 25: those not enrolled in school, enrolled in college part time, enrolled in other grades either full or part time, or enrolled with no other information available.