A new report from the Institute of Alcohol Studies suggests that recent declines in underage drinking are most likely due to improvements in parenting and the reduced affordability of alcohol, challenging a number of more commonly credited theories such as better enforcement or the role of social media.
Download Youthful Abandon: why are young people drinking less? [pdf]
Drinking amongst children and younger people has declined significantly, with a 23% drop in the number of 11-15 year olds trying alcohol in 2014 compared to 2003. Whilst the report itself specifically focusses on drinking amongst under 18s as 'underage drinkers', younger people overall have been largely behind a wider downshift in consumption.
Focus on children and young people's drinking remains central in alcohol policy debates; rightly from a child protection perspetive but perhaps more questionably in terms of how alcohol problems are often framed around 'binge drinking'. Opponents of tighter alcohol policy regulation have trumpeted falling consumption particularly amongst children, whilst public health groups highlight levels may still be considered high, and could very well rise again.
Understanding exactly why children and younger people are drinking less is undoubtedly difficult to disentangle, though the report assesses the main theories and concludes for each:
- Better Legal Enforcement: While there is some evidence that legal enforcement - particularly of minimum purchase ages - has been stricter, this can only have had a minor impact as only a small proportion of underage drinkers buy their own alcohol.
- Rise of New Technology: There is little evidence that new technologies have reduced underage drinking, and indeed children who spend more time online and on social media may be more likely to drink.
- Changing Social Norms: Underage drinking is clearly less socially acceptable than before. However, there is little clear evidence as to what is behind this broad cultural change. There does not appear to be a direct ‘backlash’ against the drinking of older generations. Nor is it clear that perceptions or concerns around the harmfulness of alcohol to health are the root cause.
- Happier and more conscientious children: Though it is not conclusive, there is some evidence that child welfare has improved, and this is associated with lower underage drinking.
- Better parenting: There is suggestive evidence that parenting has improved in ways likely to reduce underage drinking by personally modelling lower levels of consumption, by showing greater disapproval of their children’s drinking, through closer monitoring of children and through warmer and more open relationships
- Demographic Shifts: Immigration may have contributed to lower underage drinking, but the size of the effect is likely to be small. Minorities still account for a relatively small share of the population, and the decline in drinking has been larger in the ‘native’ white population – though this may be influenced by peers from abstinent cultural background, it is unlikely to be a major explanation of the fall in consumption.
- Lower affordability and economic confidence: Alcohol affordability is one of the main drivers of consumption, and has declined in recent years with prices rising and disposable incomes falling. This is likely to have significantly influenced underage drinking.
The IAS report though states further research is needed to explore these theories. Indeed the IAS conclusions provide a somewhat different picture to work by Demos, a body who received funding from SabMiller for a number of alcohol projects, whose findings had suggested the role of social media and health concerns as significant. More recent insights also highlighted the negative effect of parental drinking on children, but also indicating bullying, regional variations and many other factors as influences.
Future trends in children and young people's drinking may be hard to predict. Either way, they will continue to attract media attention, be used in policy debates, and possibly reveal more about exactly what really are the biggest influences on drinking amongst younger people.
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