WASHINGTON — A major CDC survey released today reported that underage drinking rates among 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders are at their lowest levels since the survey’s inception in 1991, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.
The 2013 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), released every two years by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also showed that the proportion of students reporting binge drinking fell to historic lows among all four grades in 2013.
“This long-term decline in underage and binge drinking is extremely encouraging but we must not become complacent as a society,” said Dr. Peter Cressy, President of the Distilled Spirits Council and a former college president. “Parents, industry and the entire community must continue to work together for progress to continue.”
Cressy noted that the spirits industry has been a part of this positive trend through the support of the Federal Trade Commission’s We Don’t Serve Teens program and the educational initiatives of the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (www.responsibility.org), which provides tools to parents, schools and communities to address underage drinking and drunk driving.
More than 13,000 U.S. high school students participated in the 2013 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is one of three surveys sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services that track data on substance abuse among youth nationally.
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Links to the CDC charts: