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Percentage of children ages 12-17 who reported drinking alcohol in the past month
Percentage of children ages 12-17 who reported drinking alcohol in the past month
US Value: 8.8%
Top State(s): Utah: 6.6%
Bottom State(s): Montana: 11.8%
Definition: Percentage of children ages 12-17 who reported drinking alcohol in the past month
Data Source and Years: SAMHSA, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2019-2020
Suggested Citation: America's Health Rankings analysis of SAMHSA, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, United Health Foundation, AmericasHealthRankings.org, accessed 2023.
Alcohol is the most commonly used substance among youth in the United States. Each year, 3,900 youth under 21 die from excessive drinking. In 2014, there were more than 57,000 alcohol-related emergency department visits among people ages 12-17. Other risks associated with underage drinking include:
The economic cost of underage drinking was $24.3 billion in 2010.
Strategies to prevent alcohol use among youth include:
The Community Guide provides additional evidence-based strategies to prevent and reduce excessive alcohol use among youth.
The prevalence of alcohol use is higher among:
Healthy People 2030 has a goal to reduce the number of adolescents ages 12-17 who reported drinking alcohol in the past month.
Bitsko, Rebecca H., Angelika H. Claussen, Jesse Lichstein, Lindsey I. Black, Sherry Everett Jones, Melissa L. Danielson, Jennifer M. Hoenig, et al. “Mental Health Surveillance Among Children — United States, 2013–2019.” MMWR Supplements 71, no. 2 (February 25, 2022): 1–42. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7102a1.
Jones, Christopher M., Heather B. Clayton, Nicholas P. Deputy, Douglas R. Roehler, Jean Y. Ko, Marissa B. Esser, Kathryn A. Brookmeyer, and Marci Feldman Hertz. “Prescription Opioid Misuse and Use of Alcohol and Other Substances Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2019.” MMWR Supplements 69, no. 1 (August 21, 2020): 38–46. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su6901a5.
Sacks, Jeffrey J., Katherine R. Gonzales, Ellen E. Bouchery, Laura E. Tomedi, and Robert D. Brewer. “2010 National and State Costs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 49, no. 5 (November 1, 2015): e73–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.05.031.
White, Aaron M., Megan E. Slater, Grace Ng, Ralph Hingson, and Rosalind Breslow. “Trends in Alcohol-Related Emergency Department Visits in the United States: Results from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, 2006 to 2014.” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 42, no. 2 (February 2018): 352–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13559.
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