Prevalence
- Prevalence of Drinking: According to the 2023 NSDUH, of full-time college students ages 18 to 25, 49.6% reported that they drank alcohol in the past month.1
- Prevalence of Binge Drinking: According to the 2023 NSDUH, of full-time college students ages 18 to 25, 29.3% reported binge drinking in the past month.1 For the purposes of this survey, binge drinking was defined as consuming five drinks or more on one occasion for males and four drinks or more for females.
- Prevalence of Heavy Drinking: According to the 2023 NSDUH, of full-time college students ages 18 to 25, 6.8% reported heavy drinking in the past month.2
1 Past-month alcohol use: consuming a drink of a beverage containing alcohol (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. Population prevalence estimates (5) are weighted by the person-level analysis weight and derived from the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ) 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH-2023-DS0001) public-use file. [cited 2025 Jan 2]. Available from: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/data-we-collect/nsduh/datafiles
2 Past-month heavy drinking: consuming five or more drinks on the same occasion for males or four or more drinks on the same occasion for females on each of five 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. Population prevalence estimates are weighted by the person-level analysis weight and derived from the CBHSQ 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH-2023-DS0001) public-use file. [cited 2025 Jan 2]. Available from: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/data-we-collect/nsduh/datafiles.
