The global objective of this report is to evaluate trends in the prevalence of binge drinking among youth and young adults in the United States over the past three decades using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the longest running survey to provide estimates on binge drinking in nationally representative samples. Binge drinking has been customarily defined by survey researchers as consuming five or more drinks on a given occasion. Use of the five-drink threshold as an indicator of unhealthy drinking patterns has been the topic of debate (summarized in Wechsler, 200617). However, there is consensus among alcohol researchers that this corresponds to a level of drinking that is “clearly dangerous for the drinker and for society.”18 Moreover, it represents a reliable and efficient predictor of alcohol-related harms, including high-risk sexual behaviors, drinking and driving, and alcohol-related injury, and alcohol use disorder.17, 19–22 While not all individuals who engage in this level of drinking experience such consequences, the use of higher thresholds would miss a large portion of individuals who do experience such harms.17
