ASSAD Self-described drinking status, by sex
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. Males (78.3%) were no more likely than females (75.9%) to be non-drinkers.
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
- 2011, 2014 and 2017 males who describe themselves as light drinkers
- 2008, 2011 and 2014 females who describe themselves as light drinkers
- 2017 persons who describe themselves as party drinkers
- 2017 males who describe themselves as party drinkers
- 2014 and 2017 females who describe themselves as party drinkers
- 2011 and 2014 persons who describe themselves as heavy drinkers
- 2008, 2011 and 2014 males who describe themselves as heavy drinkers
1999 females 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:
- 2017 females who describe themselves as light drinkers
- 2017 persons who describe themselves as heavy drinkers
- 2017 males who describe themselves as heavy drinkers
- 1996, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017 females 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 sex, 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.