International Desk
A new study has revealed where showed Britain’s youth are drinking less alcohol than previous years and abstinence has become “mainstream” among teenagers and young adults.
Researchers offered that 29% of 16 to 24-year olds were non-drinkers in 2015 while up from 18% in 2005. And according to study published on Wednesday, 50% people in that age level said, they had not had a drink in the past week.
The team at University College London analyzed data on almost 10,000 young people who had been interviewed about their drinking habits in the annual Health Survey for England between 2005 and 2015.
The findings show that non-drinking is ‘becoming more acceptable’ while ‘risky behaviors’ such as binge drinking may be less normalized. Both trends are to be welcomed from a public-health standpoint and should be capitalized positively on going forward.
The researchers said, ‘it was difficult to specify a single factor behind the trends but suggested that increased awareness of the dangers of alcohol among them and tougher laws on its sale to minors may have contributed.’
The study’s lead author Linda Ng Fat, a research associate at UCL’s Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, says ‘the rise in non-drinking is widespread not only among minority groups but also among young people. We believe that the underlying factor is cultural.’
World Health Organization (WHO) said, just one out of ten English teenagers drank alcohol weekly in 2014, down from around half in 2002.
This is really positive news. But no one really knows the reason why these changes are happening. We need to understand it properly, with longer-term studies. Karen Tyrell, executive director of external affairs at Drug and Alcohol Charity Addiction, said of the new study.
Meanwhile, a global study recently found that no amount of alcohol is good for health, with the substance responsible for 3 million deaths in 2016. On the other hand, another positive thing is a recent report where found that up to 400,000 people in England gave up smoking last year.
