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Declining drinking among adolescents: Are we seeing a denormalisation of drinking and a normalisation of non‐drinking?
Author(s) -
Caluzzi Gabriel,
Livingston Michael,
Holmes John,
MacLean Sarah,
Lubman Dan,
Dietze Paul,
Vashishtha Rakhi,
Herring Rachel,
Pennay Amy
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.15611
Subject(s) - environmental health , consumption (sociology) , psychology , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , injury prevention , alcohol consumption , poison control , population , medicine , alcohol , sociology , social science , biochemistry , chemistry
Abstract Background In the early 2000s, alcohol use among young people began to decline in many western countries, especially among adolescents (ages between 12–17 years old). These declines have continued steadily over the past two decades, against the backdrop of much smaller declines among the general population. Argument Hypotheses examining individual factors fail adequately to provide the necessary ‘big picture’ thinking needed to understand declines in adolescent drinking. We use the normalisation thesis to argue that there is strong international evidence for both processes of denormalisation of drinking and normalisation of non‐drinking occurring for adolescents in many western countries. Conclusions Research on declining adolescent drinking provides evidence of both denormalisation of alcohol consumption and normalisation of non‐drinking. This has implications for enabling policy environments more amenable to regulation and increasing the acceptability of non‐drinking in social contexts. Normalisation theory (and its various interpretations) provides a useful multi‐dimensional tool for understanding declines in adolescent drinking.