According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s annual Youth Risk Behavior Survey , the trend of American teens drinking less continued into 2024, welcome news for parents and teachers as Oregon children return to school.

Over the past three years of data, underage drinking has steadily declined by almost 15%. Of those 12–20-year-olds surveyed in 2021, 15.6% said they consumed alcohol within the past month, whereas in 2024, that number was just 13.3%. And less than 8% of underage youth reported binge drinking in the past month, down one percentage point since 2021.Changes in the way the federal government conducts the survey prevents direct comparison to older survey results, but this consistent decline should alleviate fears of a post-Covid bounce back.

“We’re encouraged to see re

See Full Page