by Lisa Frederiksen
- Among young adults approaching their 21st birthdays (i.e.,
persons surveyed in the 30 days prior to their 21st birthdays), 86.1 percent had used alcohol in their lifetime, including 62.8 percent who had initiated use before their 18th birthdays - Rates of past month and binge alcohol use were higher among young adults who had recently turned 21 than among those who were still 20 years old
- Rates of past month and binge alcohol use among 21 year olds declined and then stabilized in the months following their 21st birthdays, but their rates still remained higher than those for 20 year olds
To learn more about alcohol use before and after the 21st birthday, check out he National Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Report, “Alcohol Use Before and After the 21st Birthday.” According to this report, “there is an ongoing debate among legislators, educators, and public health officials concerning the optimal age at which young adults should be given the right to purchase and possess alcohol. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (23 U.S.C. § 158) required all States to set that age at 21. Recent research examining alcohol use behaviors among young adults in the weeks leading up to and following their 21st birthdays … may further inform this line of research.”
