Alcohol use, regular use, and abuse were highly prevalent among US adolescents (Table 1). Most of the sample (59.8%) reported alcohol use at some point in their lifetime, ranging from 42.5% for adolescents aged 13 to 14 years to 78.2% for adolescents aged 17 to 18 years. Nearly 1 in 10 adolescents reported regular alcohol use in the 13- to 14-year age cohort, a figure that increased to nearly half (47.1%) of adolescents aged 17 to 18 years. Concerning alcohol use disorders, 5.2% of all US adolescents met DSM-IV criteria for alcohol abuse without dependence and 1.3% for alcohol abuse with dependence. The prevalence of alcohol abuse with or without dependence ranged from 1.3% for the youngest cohort to 15.1% for adolescents 17 to 18 years old. The cumulative prevalence of alcohol use stages by age is presented in Figure 1. The median age at onset of each category was 13 years for first alcohol use and 14 years for regular use or abuse (with or without dependence).
