Similarly to Pacific adults, fewer Pacific young people drink alcohol compared with the general population but those who drink alcohol often consume a high amount  [54].

According to the Youth 2012 national survey, half as many Pacific students reported using alcohol or binge drinking compared to 2001 [46]. An earlier study provided more details on drinking patterns among Pacific students, using the Youth 2007 national survey [46]. It found:

• Around 32% of surveyed Pacific students reported binge drinking in the last 4 weeks (no differences by gender).
• Around 42% of all older students (17 years) reported binge drinking compared with around 15% of younger students (13 years).
• Students living in the most deprived neighbourhoods were less likely to binge drink  (~29%) than those from the  least (34.5%) and medium  (37.2%) deprived areas.
• By specific ethnicity, Cook Island students had a higher prevalence of binge drinking (~39%) than Niuean (~32%), Tongan (~30%) and Samoan (~30%) students.