1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Table 16. Percentages Reporting Past Month Heavy Alcohol Use, by Age Group, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender: 1979-1998  

Demographic Characteristics	1979	1985	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
TOTAL	--	8.3a	6.8	6.2	6.7	6.2	5.5	5.4	5.4	5.9
AGE GROUP
12-17	--	9.5	6.0	3.4	3.4	2.5	2.8	2.9	3.1	2.9
18-25	--	13.8	15.2	15.1	14.0	13.2	12.0	12.9	11.1a	13.8
26-34	--	11.5	7.9	8.5	8.5	8.0	7.9	7.1	7.5	7.2
>35	--	5.2	4.4	3.9	5.0	4.8	3.9	3.8	4.0	4.4
RACE/ETHNICITY
White, non-Hispanic	--	9.1a	7.2	6.8	7.5	6.4	5.7	5.5	5.7	6.0
Black, non-Hispanic	--	3.5	4.3	3.5	3.3	4.8	4.6	5.3	3.8	4.9
Hispanic	--	7.1	6.8	6.3	6.0	7.3	6.3	6.2	6.3	6.5
Other, non-Hispanic	--	*	3.3	2.2	1.9	4.7	2.4	2.1	2.3	4.7
GENDER
Male	--	13.8a	10.8	10.1	11.9	10.3	9.4	9.3	8.9	9.7
Female	--	3.2	3.1	2.7	1.9	2.5	2.0	1.9	2.1	2.4

*Low precision; no estimate reported.

-- Not available.

NOTE: "Binge" Alcohol Use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least one day in the past 30 days. By "occasion" is meant at the same time or within a couple hours of each other. Heavy Alcohol Use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of five or more days in the past 30 days; all Heavy Alcohol Users are also "Binge" Alcohol Users.

NOTE: The population distributions for the 1993 through 1998 NHSDAs are post-stratified to population projections of totals based on the 1990 decennial census. The 1979 NHSDA used population projections based on the 1970 census; NHSDAs from 1982 through 1992 used projections based on the 1980 census. The change from one census base to another has little effect on estimated percentages reporting drug use, but may have a significant effect on estimates of number of drug users in some subpopulation groups.

NOTE: Estimates for 1979 through 1993 may differ from estimates for these survey years that were published in other NHSDA reports. The estimates shown here for 1979 through 1993 have been adjusted to improve their comparability with estimates based on the new version of the NHSDA instrument that was fielded in 1994 and subsequent NHSDAs. For 1979 and 1982, estimates are not shown (as indicated by --) where (a) the relevant data were not collected, or (b) the data for those drugs were based on measures that differed appreciably from those used in the other survey years. Consequently, adjustments to the 1979 and 1982 data were made only for those drugs whose measures were comparable to those in the other survey years.

Because of the methodology used to adjust the 1979 through 1993 estimates, some logical inconsistency may exist between estimates for a given drug within the same survey year. For example, some adjusted estimates of past year use may appear to be greater then adjusted lifetime estimates. These inconsistencies tend to be small, rare and not statistically significant.

^aDifference between estimate and 1998 estimate is statistically significant at the .05 level.

^bDifference between estimate and 1998 estimate is statistically significant at the .01 level.

Source: SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

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This page was last updated on June 01, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.