Just as drinking rates showed a rare increase among 10th and 12th graders in 2012, young adult drinking rates increased slightly as well, as reported by the national Monitoring the Future Surveys. These surveys continue to show that
about 2/3 of college students and a larger pool of young adults (age 19-28) drink alcohol beverages at least once per month. And unlike drinking rates among high school students, which are down sharply long-term, monthly drinking rates among all young adults have changed little over the last 2 decades.
But the rate for college students increased by a surprising 4.2 points in 2012 survey vs the previous year; the rate among young adults increased by 0.7 points. Interestingly, the just-released Gallup survey for 2013 found that the percentage of all adults (18+), who say they have "occasion to use alcoholic beverages" slipped to 60%, the lowest level since the mid-90s.
Meanwhile, rates of being drunk at least once in the previous month ticked up 0.2 for college students in 2012 and ticked down 0.4 for young adults. That's a reversal of the 10-yr trend.
Since 2002, the "been drunk" rate has fallen almost 10% among college students, while rising 5.4% among young adults. Meanwhile, heavy episodic or "binge" drinking rates also fell among college students over the last 10 years, while changing little among young adults.
The MTF studies also support the sales success in recent years of flavored alcohol beverages, especially among college students, be they liquors or malt beverages.
Monthly consumption rates of flavored beverages increased almost 14% among college students over the last 5 years. Once again, MTF data shows that
very few young adults admit to daily drinking, just 4-6%. That's fewer than admit to daily pot smoking. But rates of daily use rise sharply as young adults get older. Only 4.9% of 21-22 year-olds say they drink every day. But that increases to 7.5% by age 27-28 and to 10.6% among those age 50. Similarly, the most recent Gallup poll showed that
only 13% of drinkers, or only 8% of adults, admit to having had more than 1 drink per day over the previous week. The average number of drinks consumed per week among drinkers, according Gallup, was only 3.8 in the last survey, lower than any year since 2000. Ref 1
| Prevalence of Alcohol Beverage Consumption (%) |
| % chg |
| 30-Day Use |
2002 |
2007 |
2012 |
02-12* |
| College |
68.9 |
66.6 |
67.7 |
-1.7 |
| YA (19-28) |
68.3 |
69.5 |
69.5 |
1.8 |
| Been Drunk (30 days) |
|
| College |
44.4 |
46.8 |
40.1 |
-9.7 |
| YA |
37.1 |
41.4 |
39.1 |
5.4 |
| Flavored Alc Bevs (30 days) |
|
| College |
|
27.5 |
31.3 |
13.8 |
| YA |
|
25.9 |
26.1 |
0.8 |
| 5+ Drinks in a Row (2wks) |
| College |
40.1 |
41.1 |
37.4 |
-6.7 |
| YA |
35.9 |
37.8 |
35.5 |
-1.1 |
| Daily Drinking |
| College |
5.0 |
4.3 |
3.9 |
-22.0 |
| YA |
4.7 |
5.6 |
5.5 |
17.0 |
| Daily Pot Smoking
| |
| College |
4.1 |
3.5 |
4.8 |
17.1 |
| YA |
4.5 |
5.0 |
5.6 |
24.4 |
| *For flavored alc bevs, trend is for 2007-2012. |