Understanding youth drinking decline: Similarity and change in the function and social meaning of alcohol use (and non-use) in adolescent cohorts 20 years apart

Abstract

Introduction: Qualitative research aimed at understanding the decline in youth drinking has so far been hampered by a lack of baseline data for comparison. This New Zealand study overcomes this limitation by comparing archival qualitative data collected at the height of youth drinking (1999–2001) with contemporary data collected for this study (June–October 2022). The aim is to explore changes in the function and social meaning of alcohol use (and non-use) for two cohorts about 20 years apart. Methods: Both archival and contemporary data were collected from 14 to 17 year old secondary school students (years 10–12) through individual and small-group/pair interviews in matched suburban co-ed schools. Interviews explored friendships, lifestyles, romantic relationships and experiences and perceptions of substance use and non-use. Results and Discussion: Comparative analysis highlighted changes that may help to explain the decline in youth drinking, including an increased value placed on personal choice and acceptance of diversity; decreased face-to-face socialising and the emergence of social media as a central feature of adolescent social life, perhaps displacing key functions of drinking and partying; increased pervasiveness of risk discourses and increased awareness of health and social risks of alcohol; and increased framing of alcohol use as a coping mechanism by both drinkers and non-drinkers. Conclusions: Collectively, these changes appear to have shifted the social position of drinking from an almost compulsory component of adolescent social life in 1999–2001, to an optional activity that many contemporary adolescents perceive to have high risks and few benefits.