Alcohol: children alcohol consumption

The Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) has been established by the Scottish Executive to provide a broad based approach to the monitoring of substance use among young people in Scotland.

In 2006, SALSUS reported that

• 35% of 15-year-old boys and 37% of 15-year-old girls reported drinking in the past week.
• Among 13 year olds, 13% of boys and 15% of girls reported drinking in the past week.
• Chart 1 shows that the proportion of 13 year olds, reporting drinking alcohol in the past week, more than doubled between 1990 and 2002, from 10% to 23% for both boys and girls.  The percentage has declined to 13% for boys and 15% for girls in 2006.  Fifteen-year-old boys and girls showed similar increases between 1990 and 2002, from 30% to 47% for boys and 25-46% for girls.  The percentage has declined since, to 35% of boys and 37% of girls.
• Among pupils who drank alcohol in the previous week, 15-year-old boys reported drinking an average of 18 units of alcohol in the previous week, compared to 13 units consumed by 15-year-old girls, and 13-year-old boys and girls both reported drinking an average of 13 units in the previous week.
• In 2006, almost one in five (18%) 15 year olds and 7% of 13 year olds who had ever drunk alcohol reported having been drunk more than 10 times.
• Of pupils who had reported drinking alcohol in the last week, 47% of 13 year olds and 63% of 15 year olds had been drunk in the last week.

  (Source: Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS))

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Chart 1