Key Messages
Used Alcohol in the Past Year
How Often Students Use Alcohol
Binge Drinking
First Time Use
Perceived Risk of Regular Binge Drinking
Technical Notes
Key Messages
- In 2019, alcohol was by far the most common substance use by Simcoe Muskoka students. By grades 11 and 12, approximately three quarters of Simcoe Muskoka students reported using alcohol in the past year.
- Approximately one-in-ten Simcoe Muskoka high school students reported using alcohol at least weekly in the past month.
- Approximately one-in-four Simcoe Muskoka high school students reported binge drinking in the past month, which was significantly higher than the provincial average.
- One-in-five Simcoe Muskoka students in grades 7 to 12 reported using alcohol for the first time in the previous year.
- One-in-three students surveyed reported that regular binge drinking has low to no risk of health harms.
- Alcohol use among Simcoe Muskoka students did not change significantly when comparing the results from the 2019 survey with those from 2015; however, the long-term provincial trends show significantly lower alcohol use among students over the past two decades.
Used Alcohol in the Past Year
- In 2019, nearly half of Simcoe Muskoka students in grades 7 to 12 reported using alcohol in the past year, which was similar to what was reported in the 2015 survey.
- By grades 11 and 12, approximately three-quarters of Simcoe Muskoka students reported using alcohol in the past year, which was significantly higher when compared with students in grades 9 and 10. One-in-ten grade seven and eight students in Simcoe Muskoka reported using alcohol in the past year.
- The per cent of Simcoe Muskoka high school students who reported alcohol use in the past year was significantly higher than the comparable provincial average.
- More students with poorer self-rated mental health reported using alcohol in the past year.
- The long-term provincial trend shows that alcohol use among Ontario students declined significantly from 2003 to 2017, but did not change from 2017 to 2019.
Provincial Trends
How Often Students Use Alcohol
- Nearly half of Simcoe Muskoka students in grades 7 to 12 reported using alcohol at least once or twice in the past month and this was significantly higher among students in grades 11 and 12 when compared with students in grades 9 and 10.
- Approximately one-in-ten Simcoe Muskoka high school students reported using alcohol at least weekly in the past month.
- The provincial trend in using alcohol weekly in the past month decreased significantly from 1999 to 2019. The percentage of Ontario students drinking alcohol at least once per week is half of what it was two decades earlier.
Provincial Trends
Binge Drinking
- Binge drinking, for the purpose of this page, is consuming five or more alcoholic drinks on at least one occasion in the past month.
- In 2019, one-in-five Simcoe Muskoka students in grades 7 to 12 reported binge drinking in the past month, which was similar to what was reported in the 2015 survey.
- By grades 11 and 12, approximately one-in-three Simcoe Muskoka students reported binge drinking in the past month, which was significantly higher when compared to students in grades 9 and 10. Less than one-in-twenty grade seven and eight students in Simcoe Muskoka reported binge drinking in the past month.
- The per cent of Simcoe Muskoka high school students who reported binge drinking in the past month was significantly higher than the comparable provincial average.
- More students with poorer self-rated mental health reported binge drinking in the past month.
- The long-term provincial trend shows that binge drinking among Ontario students has decreased significantly from 26% in 2007 to 15% in 2019.
Provincial Trends
First Time Use
- In 2019, approximately one-in-five Simcoe Muskoka students in grades 7 to 12 reported trying alcohol for the first time in the past year, which was similar to what was reported in 2015.
- The provincial trend in first time alcohol use among students in grades 7 to 12 decreased significantly from 2001 to 2007; however, by 2019 the percentage of students that used alcohol for the first time in the past year was similar to what was reported in the early 2000’s.
Provincial Trends
Perceived Risk of Regular Binge Drinking
- In 2019, more than half of Simcoe Muskoka students in grades 7 to 12 reported that regular binge drinking is a great or medium risk of harm to their health; however, one-third of students reported low to no risk of harm to their health from regular binge drinking.
- The perception of low to no risk of harm to their health from regular binge drinking increases significantly with higher grade level and is significantly higher among male students when compared with female students.
- The percentage of Simcoe Muskoka students that think regular binge drinking has low or no risk of harming their health is significantly higher than the provincial average.
Technical Notes
Information presented on this page is from the 2019 survey cycle of the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS), unless otherwise specified. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has been conducting the survey since 1977, making OSDUHS the longest ongoing school survey in Canada. Over 1,200 Simcoe Muskoka students in grades seven to twelve were surveyed as part of the 2019 OSDUHS.
The data presented in the text and charts above was analyzed by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) using the 2019 OSDUHS data conducted by CAMH and administered by the Institute for Social Research at York University in Toronto, Ontario. The contents above and interpretation are solely the responsibility of SMDHU and do not necessarily represent the official view of CAMH.
Further Reading
For more information about youth substance use:
Page Last Modified: September 3, 2020.