Teen drinking declining, a new NHS survey suggests

New NHS data shows that teen drinking is declining, with only shows per centages of pupils had ever had an alcoholic drink down from 44 per cent to 40 per cent.

In 2009 the chief medical officer of England published the first official guidance on alcohol for children and young people. The recommendations suggest that the healthiest and safest option was for children to be alcohol free until they are 18. Or, if they did drink alcohol not until the age of 15. Children between the ages of 15 to 17 were suggested to only drink once a week with supervision. The guidance was intended to prevent general health risk factors (physical or mental health problems, impair brain development, and alcohol-related injuries) associated with high or regular alcohol consumption. The 2021 NHS digital survey aims to track the progress of this guidance and identify any future risk factors.

Data from 2021 shows 40 per cent of pupils had ever had an alcoholic drink. This is down from 44 per cent in 2018. Analysis of this data by age shows that 13 per of 11 year-olds and 65 per cent of 15 year-olds had ever had a drink.

Frequency of drinking

Only six per cent of pupils stated that they drank alcohol once per week, mirroring the 2018 data. But 11 per cent of pupils said they drank between once a fortnight and once a month. Therefore the total pupils who drank once a month was 16 per cent (based on rounded percentages).

Drinking in the last week

Nine per cent of the pupils said they had consumed an alcoholic drink in the previous week. Again, this proportion increased based on the child’s age: from two per cent of 11-12 year-olds and four per cent of 13 year-olds, to 10 per cent of 14 year-olds, and 20 per cent of 15 year-olds.

When analysed by region the data shows that drinking was significantly lower in London at three per cent. The statistics in the other regions ranged from eight to 12 per cent.

The NHS’ data also shows that “pupils who drank in the last week were most likely to have done so on Saturday (68 per cent). 36 per cent drank on Friday, and 32 per cent drank on Sunday.”

Alcohol consumption in the last week

Of the students that had consumed alcohol in the previous week a mean average of 8.9 units were drunk. 18 per cent of pupils who drank in the last week were estimated to have drunk more than 15 units.

The proportion of pupils stating that they had drunk spirts has now risen from 60 per cent in 2018 to 67 per cent in 2021. This is equal to the proportion of students who had drunk beer, cider or lager, but this is down from 76 per cent in 2018.

Almost half of the units consumed (52 per cent) was beer, lager and cider. The rest of the pupils were split between wine (17 per cent) and spirits (21 per cent).

Drunkenness

Pupils were asked if they had been drunk in the last four weeks. The data shows:

Eight per cent of pupils said they had been drunk in the last four weeks
Six per cent of pupils who had been drunk once or twice
Two per cent more often than twice

Analysing the data by sex shows “girls (10 per cent) were more likely to have been drunk in the last four weeks than boys (six per cent).”

The proportion of pupils who had been drunk in the last four weeks increased with age. Close to 0 per cent of 11 year-olds, and one per cent of 12 year-olds had been drunk in the last four weeks, compared to 21 per cent of 15 year-olds.

Impact of lockdown

Similar to the smoking and vaping statistics, pupils who met friends outside of home/school were more likely to be regular drinkers:

12 per cent of pupils who said they met people every day said that they usually drank alcohol at least once a week
Compared to only two per cent for those who never met people outside of home/school

Obtaining alcohol

Pupils who had obtained alcohol in the last four weeks mainly receive it from parents (75 per cent).

Other sources included: