Normalization of non-drinking?: Health, school situation and social relations among swedish ninth graders that drink and do not drink alcoholShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, ISSN 1661-7827, E-ISSN 1660-4601, Vol. 18, no 21, article id 11201
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Alcohol consumption is a major contributor to the disease burden among adolescents. The adolescent alcohol abstainer is still often depicted as problematic in the research literature and in prominent theoretical frameworks. However, over the past two decades, there has been a marked trend of declining youth drinking in Sweden. The declining trend has led to a shift in the majority behaviour of youth, from drinking to non-drinking. It is plausible that this trend has also shifted the position of non-drinkers. This paper examines the position of non-drinkers in a nationally representative sample of Swedish adolescents. A survey was carried out in 2017 in 500 randomly selected schools. A total of 5549 respondents (15–16-year-olds) agreed to participate and answered the questionnaire. A minority (42.8%) had consumed alcohol during their lifetime. The results show that non-drinkers had better health and school performance when compared to drinkers. The results also showed that there were no differences in the social position between non-drinkers and drinkers. These findings are new and indicate a changed position of non-drinkers among Swedish adolescents. With non-drinking being the majority behaviour among Swedish adolescents this seems to have shifted the position of non-drinkers. There is a need for research on the long-term importance of not drinking during adolescence.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2021. Vol. 18, no 21, article id 11201
Keywords [en]
Adolescent, Alcohol, Non-drinking, Survey, Sweden
National Category
Social Work Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-46717DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182111201ISI: 000718512200001PubMedID: 34769720Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85117586663OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-46717DiVA, id: diva2:1610482
Funder
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2017-01741Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2021-01725Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2019-003782021-11-112021-11-112025-02-20Bibliographically approved