In this article we explore the relationship between education and alcohol consumption. We examine
whether the probability of abusing alcohol differs across educational groups. We use data from the British
Cohort Study, a longitudinal study of one week’s birth in Britain in 1970. Measures of alcohol abuse
include alcohol consumption above NHS guidelines, daily alcohol consumption and problem drinking.
Higher educational attainment is associated with increased odds of daily alcohol consumption and problem
drinking. The relationship is stronger for females than males. Individuals who achieved high test scores in
childhood are at a significantly higher risk of abusing alcohol across all dimensions. Our results also
suggest that educational qualifications and academic performance are associated with the probability of
belonging to different typologies of alcohol consumers among women while this association is not present
in the case of educational qualifications and is very weak in the case of academic performance among
males.
