Indicator 2 3 : Alcohol use

Goal: Minnesotans will be healthy. This goal encompasses both physical and mental health throughout life. It is also aimed at reducing disparities in health status among racial and ethnic minorities. Indicators for the goal deal with both health status and health care.

Rationale: Research shows that the younger a person begins drinking alcohol, the more probable it is that they will develop a clinically defined disorder such as alcoholism or alcohol abuse. Compared to those who begin drinking at age 21, people who start before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism and two times more likely to develop alcohol abuse.

Year 1992 18.6% 1995 20.1% 1998 55.6% 2001 48.1%

Data source: Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning

Year 1992 41.3% 1995 37% 1998 71.5% 2001 69.5%

Data source: Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning

About this indicator: This indicator shows that the annual alcohol use (any alcohol use in the past 12 months) decreased among Minnesota's ninth- and 12th-graders between 1998 and 2001. Despite these decreases, approximately two of every three 12th-graders and one of every two ninth-graders reported using alcohol over the past year. Males and females reported essentially the same level of annual alcohol use.

For comparison: No comparison data is available because national data is collected only on alcohol use in the past 30 day period.

Things to think about: Alcohol use among youth is associated with a wide variety of risky behaviors, including unprotected sexual intercourse, vulnerability to coerced sexual activity, use of marijuana and poor academic performance. Nationally, over a third of all traffic deaths among youth ages 15 to 20 were alcohol related.

Technical notes: Collected in the 2001 Minnesota Student Survey, this data measures the percentage of students who answered "yes" to the question, "During the last 12 months, have you had any alcoholic beverages?" The data from the survey is available by gender and the number of occasions students had alcoholic beverages. Data available prior to 1998 include student's daily, weekly or monthly alcohol use, but that data is no longer collected by the Minnesota Student Survey.

Sources:

• Child Trends DataBank, www.childtrendsdatabank.org
• Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning, Minnesota Student Survey. 2001. www.children.state.mn.us
• Minnesota Department of Health, Healthy Minnesotans, Minnesota Public Health Improvement Goals for 2004, www.health.state.mn.us