Underage Drinking in Rural Areas 

The NSDUH Report:  Underage Drinking in Rural Areas

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Highlights

• In 2002, about 10% of persons aged 12 or older (an estimated 4 million persons) lived in rural areas.

• Based on SAMHSA's 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the rate of current underage drinking among youth aged 12 to 17 was higher in rural than nonrural areas. Current underage drinking among those aged 18 to 20, however, was higher in nonrural areas.

• Rural youth aged 12 to 17 reported lower levels of perceived risk from alcohol use, less disapproval of alcohol use, and less perceived parental disapproval of underage drinking than those in nonrural areas.

• Binge drinking (defined as 5 or more drinks on the same occasion at least one day in the past month) was also higher among rural youth age 12 to 17 (4.1%) than nonrural (1.6%) but underage binge drinking did not differ by rural status for those aged 18 to 20.

• Binge drinking was especially higher among Hispanics age 12 to 20 in rural areas (30.4%) than in nonrural areas (16.3%).

  Reports on underage drinking

  Reports on youth

Reports on rural/urban status & metropolitan areas

Reports on specific drugs

Other topics

This Short Report, The NSDUH Report:  Underage Drinking in Rural Areas, is based on SAMHSA's  National Survey on Drug Use and Health, formerly called the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NHSDA/NSDUH) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.   The NHSDA/NSDUH also provides estimates for drug use by state.

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