ASSAD Self-described drinking status, by age group
Please note that these indicators are not currently up to date and will be replaced shortly with dashboards. In the meantime the most currently available data is available at https://www.data.act.gov.au or contact healthinfo@act.gov.au
Commentary
In 2017, around three-quarters (77.1%) of secondary students surveyed described themselves as non-drinkers. Younger students aged 12-15 years were significantly more likely to describe themselves as non-drinkers than older students aged 16-17 years (88.3% vs 53.6%, respectively).
The 2009 NHMRC Australian drinking guidelines recommend no alcohol consumption as the safest option for people under 18.
Please note that this indicator was updated in 2022 and replaces all previous versions.
The following estimates have a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution:
- 2014 and 2017 persons who describe themselves as light drinkers
- 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017 12-15 year olds who describe themselves as light drinkers
- 2002, 2005 and 2014 16-17 year olds who describe themselves as light drinkers
- 2017 persons who describe themselves as party drinkers
- 2014 and 2017 12-15 year olds who describe themselves as party drinkers
- 2011 and 2014 persons who describe themselves as heavy drinkers
- 1996 12-15 year olds who describe themselves as heavy drinkers
- 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2011 16-17 year olds who describe themselves as heavy drinkers.
The following estimates have not been published due to a relative standard error greater than 50% or small numbers:
- 16-17 year olds who describe themselves as light drinkers
- 2017 persons who describe themselves as heavy drinkers
- 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017 12-15 year olds who describe themselves as heavy drinkers
- 2014 and 2017 16-17 year olds who describe themselves as heavy drinkers.
For the purpose of reporting the Australian Secondary Students' Alcohol and Drug survey data on HealthStats, if the 95% confidence intervals of the estimates do not overlap, they are considered to be significantly different.
Chart
Alcohol use, self described drinking status, ACT Secondary Students aged 12-17 years, by age group, 1996-2017
Data
To access the data, select "View source data" link at the bottom of the visualisation. This link will open up a data table that you can download.
Codes and sources
A copy of the Australian Secondary Students' Alcohol and Drug survey can be found in Data collections.