Our boozy Australian culture may soon be extinct if the results of a recent survey are anything to go by.

Published in the scientific journal Addiction, the survey led by Dr Michael Livingston of Australia’s National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre compiled the responses of more than 2500 Australians aged 14 to 17. It found that the percentage of teenagers who abstain from drinking alcohol has risen from 32.9 per cent in 2001 to over 50.2 per cent in 2010, mirroring similar trends which are also emerging with teens in Nordic countries and the United States.

The interesting thing is the broad ranging cultural factors that are behind this trend. Irrespective of the region, socio-economic status and demographic, teens are in general drinking less. This points to an overall cultural shift, one in which alcohol doesn’t play as big of a role.

In his report, Livingston cites a number of possible explanations behind this trend including the increased use of the internet in the past decade. “This form of entertainment may have displaced other leisure activities in young people’s lives, including those involving alcohol consumption,” he says. Australia’s multiculturalism may also play a role, with the report indicating an increase in residents from lighter drinking countries can play a part in the increasing rate of abstinence among adolescents.

But with illegal drug use now such a widespread problem, it begs the question of if alcohol is simply being replaced with drugs as the adolescent weapon of choice. Surprisingly, it appears these figures are also experiencing a small decline.

The ‘Australian Secondary School Students Use of Tobacco, Alcohol and Over the Counter Illicit Substances 2011’ report backs up the Livingston report on the decline in adolescent alcohol consumption, but surprisingly it also too suggests our teens are staying away from drugs. In 2008 amphetamine usage by teenagers 16 to 17 was recorded at six per cent, but in 2011 had reduced to five per cent. Ecstasy use also decreased to five per cent in 2011 from eight per cent in 2008. The only drug to increase in usage was cannabis, rising to 27 per cent in 2011 from 24 per cent in 2008.

 

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– Cassy Small

 

via Teenage drinking on the decline.

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