Young people have been drinking less than they used to before. Some people reading this will remember the 1990s which was the peak of alcohol, when alcohol consumption was an important part of the life of young people. The previous decade witnessed the rise of club culture and pub, arrival of new kinds of alcoholic drinks and public displays of drunkenness.
Jump to 2020 and the situation is quite different. A wide range of studies from countries where drinking has an important position in the culture has witnessed a huge decline in the consumption of alcoholic products among the youth. For example, a research in Sweden reveals a huge decline across a broad spectrum of consumption form the lightest to heaviest drinkers. Similarly, the rate at which people binge has dropped and individuals who classify them as non-drinkers have substantially increased.
There are significant health benefits to this attitudinal change. Consumption of excess quantities of alcohol is the cause of some of the chronic diseases and bad drinking habits are often began between 16 and 25 years. So there’s a lot to be taken from young people who now show how drinking culture has changed.
There are numerous reasons for this changing trend. Economic factors which include a wide climate of restraint and austerity may actually limit the money and time young people have to spend on alcohol. Young people are now increasingly aware of the health risks of taking alcohol.
Changes in drinking patterns may just be a fraction of the reasons for this huge change. Online technology has made it possible for family and friends now accessible through social media, smartphones etc, and the previous role of clubs and pubs for starting and cementing social networks seem to have been changed.
Pros and cons of not drinking
Avoiding alcohol can have ramifications for people’s social life. A survey involving 500 UK university students who were alcohol consumers were questioned whether or not they had consumed alcohol on social events where their colleagues were drinking.
Almost half of the students (44%) were reported to have socialized without drinking alcohol and revealed health benefits which included feeling more productive and having a high self-esteem. The main cons of not consuming alcohol were that not drinking might make them miss out and limit their social lives.
Beating the stigma
One of the huge roadblocks to encouraging young people to consume less is the stigma attached to drinking less or not drinking at all. Numerous studies point to this. In one study I worked on, the interviewees have revealed the pressures they have encountered to drink and that if they don’t drink then they are outmoded.
