Spring Break 2025: College Binge Drinking in Context
Research shows that binge drinking is down considerably over previous periods.
By Mark S Gold
Published by Psychology Today on April 3, 2025
Key points
• Large nationwide longitudinal studies have shown fewer high school and college-age adults are abusing alcohol.
• Media coverage around spring break 2025 seems to imply extensive use of alcohol by young adults.
• Risky drinking is down among college students but still happens.
Spring break is a wild time for some college students nationwide. It can also be an extremely dangerous time, because some students engage in reckless behavior, taking drinks from strangers they just met, drinking to excess, and losing control over their own behavior. On the plus side, the news among high school students is mostly good, and many report avoiding alcohol altogether, including in very large nationwide studies. In 2024, 14% of teens reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days, marking a 43% decline since 2015 and a 69% decrease since 1991. Approximately 22% reported alcohol consumption in the past 30 days, a 39% decrease from 35% in 2015.
