Resources | NZ Statistics


	Library Catalogue
	NZ Statistics
	Publications & Orders
	ALAC's Magazine
	Community Action

Media

Scholarships & Grants

Events

What do we know about the drinking habits of young New Zealanders under 20 years old?

A key finding of the 2004 alcohol use survey was that a significantly higher proportion of those aged 18 to 24 years consumed large amounts of alcohol on a typical drinking occasion and on a per week basis than any other age group who reported drinking in the last 12 months. One in two young people aged 18-24 reported consuming large amounts of alcohol on a typical drinking occasion (the highest proportion of any age group).

Although young people aged 12-17 years are significantly less likely than all other age groups to have consumed alcohol in the last 12 months, as shown in Figure 4 below, of those who did drink during that period, approximately two in five consumed a large amount of alcohol on a typical drinking occasion (the second highest proportion of any age group). Within the 12-17 age group there were more females than males who drank excessively (42.5 percent females compared to 36.2 percent males).

Figure 5 (below) highlights the significantly different consumption rates in the 12-17 and 18-24 year age groups compared to all the other age groups.

Figure 4: Percentage of the population who have consumed alcohol in the last 12 months

Figure 5: Number of standard drinks consumed on a typical occasion by age group

In most Western countries, alcohol consumption and heavy episodic drinking tend to be higher during young adulthood than at any other time across the lifespan (Guo et al., 2001). There also appears to be an increase in binge-drinking and drinking to intoxication by young people internationally (World Health Organization, 2004).

Research in New Zealand indicates that most secondary school students have tried alcohol at least once (approximately 80 percent) and that those aged 12-24 years that do drink (predominantly those over 14 years) are more likely to consume large amounts of alcohol on an occasion than any other age group. Research also suggests that teenagers are more likely than adults to believe that drinking to get drunk is okay as long as it is not every day. Despite this, young people aged 12-17 years do not drink as frequently as those aged 18 and over. For example, the 2004 alcohol use survey found over half of the young people aged 12-17 years who reported drinking in the previous 12 months (59 percent) consumed alcohol less than once a week, with almost one-third (31 percent) consuming alcohol one to three times a week.

There are slightly more young female binge drinkers aged 12-17 years than young male binge drinkers (54 percent female compared to 46 percent male). While Maori aged 12-17 years are less likely than non-Maori (excluding Pacific youth) to be regular drinkers, they are more likely to binge than other New Zealand youth when they do drink. Pacific youth aged 12-17 years are more likely than any other youth to be non-drinkers but the majority of those who do drink, drink to harmful levels.

According to the 2006-07 ALAC Monitor binge-drinking youth aged 12-17 years consume more RTDs and spirits than moderate drinkers (50 percent of binge-drinking youth typically consumed RTDs and 18 percent consumed spirits compared to 25 percent and 13 percent respectively of all moderate drinkers). Binge-drinking youths are also less likely to drink beer and wine than moderate drinkers (27 percent typically reported consuming beer and 4 percent wine compared to 40 percent and 22 percent respectively of all moderate drinkers). Overall, RTDs appeared to be the drink of choice among those youth who reported drinking (36 percent), followed by beer (34 percent). The proportion of youth drinking RTDs increased by 9 percent from the 2005-06 ALAC monitor (i.e. from 27 percent in the 05/06 year to 36 percent in the 06/07 year). On the other hand, the proportion of youth drinking beer slightly decreased from 40 percent in the 05/06 year to 34 percent in 06/07.

Research consistently shows that most young people under the minimum legal purchase age acquire alcohol from parents and friends, with a small minority (an estimated 10-15 percent of those young people who drink) purchasing alcohol themselves, despite being under the legal purchase age. The 2006-07 ALAC Monitor found that youth aged 12-17 years who were binge drinkers were significantly less likely than moderate drinkers to report that they accessed their alcohol from parents (51 percent of all binge drinkers compared to 75 percent of all moderate drinkers) and more likely than moderate drinkers to report getting alcohol from friends aged 18 and over (49 percent compared to 16 percent of all moderate drinkers). Pacific youth drinkers aged 12-17 years were the only ethnic group not to report parents as their primary supplier of alcohol. Instead, these youth most frequently reported accessing their alcohol from friends aged 18+ (37 percent), with less than one-quarter reporting their parents as a "usual" source.

The Youth 2000 survey indicates that the majority of secondary school drinkers who had purchased their own alcohol tended to buy it from a bottle store (67 percent), rather than from other locations, such as, supermarkets (12 percent), pubs (7 percent), or parties or licensed events (5 percent). There is also some research to suggest that intoxication and binge-drinking among young people aged 12-17 years is closely linked to unsupervised situations where alcohol is often supplied by parents (Kalafatelis, McMillen, & Palmer, 2003; Kypri et al., 2005).

The Youth 2007 survey showed that 60 percent of secondary school students currently drink alcohol. About one-third of students reported they had engaged in binge drinking (5 or more drinks within 4 hours) in the last 4 weeks – similar to the findings of Youth 2000.

According to the Youth 2007 survey, among students who regularly drink alcohol, substantial numbers of students reported problems from drinking alcohol such as unsafe sex (14%), unwanted sex (7%), and/or injuries (22%). Sixteen percent of these students had been told by friends or family that they needed to cut down their drinking. The most common sources of alcohol for students were their parents (54%) and friends (53%). About 14% of students buy alcohol themselves and 35% get someone else to buy alcohol for them. Almost one-third of students reported that they had been driven by someone who had been drinking. Among students who themselves drive, 13% had driven after they had drunk more than two glasses of alcohol in the two hours before driving.