- Prevalence of Alcohol Use:
- Prevalence of Drinking: According to the 2018 NSDUH, 54.9 percent of full-time college students ages 18–22 drank alcohol in the past month compared with 44.6 percent of other persons of the same age.18
- Prevalence of Binge Drinking: According to the 2018 NSDUH, 36.9 percent of college students ages 18–22 reported binge drinking in the past month compared with 27.9 percent of other persons of the same age.18
- Prevalence of Heavy Alcohol Use: According to the 2018 NSDUH, 9.6 percent of college students ages 18–22 reported heavy alcohol use in the past month compared with 6.9 percent of other persons of the same age.18
- Consequences—Researchers estimate that each year:
- 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor-vehicle crashes.19
- 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.20
- 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 report experiencing alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.20
- Roughly 20 percent of college students meet the criteria for AUD.21
- About 1 in 4 college students report academic consequences from drinking, including missing class, falling behind in class, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall.22
18 SAMHSA. The estimates are weighted by the person-level analysis weight and derived from the 2018 NSDUH 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: 5 or more drinks on the same occasion for males or 4 or more drinks on the same occasion for females on at least 1 day in the past 30 days. Past-month heavy alcohol use: 5 or more drinks on the same occasion for males or 4 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 22 enrolled in school and at college level. Other persons aged 18–22: 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. National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2018 (NSDUH-2018) Public-Use File Dataset. Available at: https://www.datafiles.samhsa.gov/study/national-survey-drug-use-and-health-nsduh-2018-nid18757. Accessed 11/15/19.
19 Hingson, R.W.; Zha, W.; and Weitzman, E.R. Magnitude of and trends in alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18–24, 1998–2005. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (Suppl. 16):12–20, 2009. PMID: 19538908.
20 Hingson, R.; Heeren, T.; Winter, M.; et al. Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18–24: Changes from 1998 to 2001. Annual Review of Public Health 26:259–279, 2005. PMID: 15760289
21 Blanco, C.; Okuda, M.; Wright, C. et al. Mental health of college students and their non-college-attending peers: Results from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry 65(12):1429–1437, 2008. PMID: 19047530
22 Wechsler, H.; Dowdall, G.W.; Maenner, G.; et al. Changes in binge drinking and related problems among American college students between 1993 and 1997: Results of the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study. Journal of American College Health 47(2):57–68, 1998. PMID: 9782661
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