Student Monitor: fewer students drink, but those who drink, often drink a lot

1 July 2024

In 2023 slightly fewer Dutch students aged 12 to 16 drank alcohol in the past month compared with 2021. But those who drank, often drank a lot. This is evident from the Student Monitor 2023 of the Trimbos-institute.

The percentage of students who drank alcohol halved between 2003 and 2015. After 2015 the proportion remained a couple of years more or less stable. In 2021 (corona time) this number increased, but this increase did not continued. Alcohol consumption by young people has fallen again in 2023.

In 2023, 39.6% of students have drunk at some point in their lives, 34.5% in the past year and 22.0% in the past month. When students drink, they drink a lot: two-thirds of them have binged in the past month. Binge drinking is drinking 5 or more drinks (10 grams of ethanol) on one occasion. So although the decline in the percentage of alcohol users seems to be a positive development, we must be careful in drawing conclusions.

The figures show that boys and girls drank alcohol and binged about equally often. However, more girls have been drunk at some point in the past month. There are few differences in alcohol consumption between students at different school levels. Among students of Dutch origin, the percentage who have drunk alcohol is significantly higher than among students of non-Dutch origin.

Students who drank alcohol in the past month drank an average of 6.4 drinks during the weekend. Of the students who drank alcohol in past month, 7.9% usually drank more than 10 glasses on a weekend day, while 1.7% usually drank 20 glasses or more on a weekend day. Alcohol consumption mainly takes place at other people's homes, in a loft, shed or shack or at home.

Of the students who have drunk alcohol in the past month, 7.0% usually buy the alcoholic drinks themselves and 33.3% usually get it from friends. A quarter (25.1%) say they usually get this from their parents.

The average age at which students drink for the first time was 12.9 years. At 13.8 years they start drinking weekly.

Source: trimbos.nl.

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