Why are some young people skipping the booze?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-07-12 03:00

Australia; VIC; WA

Photo by Julia Nastogadka on Unsplash

Young people who avoid drinking alcohol heavily are doing so because of concerns about the long- and short-term risks of drinking, according to Australian researchers. The researchers recruited 40 teens aged 16-19 years in 2018 who said they rarely or never drank, then followed up with them two years later. By this time, many had begun drinking regularly while 11 were still either abstaining from alcohol or drinking very rarely. Asking why those who deliberately limited their alcohol consumption did so, the researchers say their responses were mostly focused on the potential for immediate harm if they drank too much, potential dependency, and the risk of long-term health problems from drinking too much.

Media release

From:

Journal/
conference: Drug and Alcohol Review

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: La Trobe University, Curtin University

Funder: This project is supported by funding from the Australian Research Council (DE190101074). Michael Livingston is supported by fellowship funding from the Australian Research Council (FT210100656). The authors would like to thank Kelly van Egmond for assisting with data collection. Open access publishing facilitated by La Trobe University, as part of the Wiley - La Trobe University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.

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