Source: University of Michigan
Understanding the reasons why young adults choose not to drink on certain days may inform prevention and intervention programs aimed at reducing the harms associated with alcohol consequences.
Although alcohol use is declining among young adults, rates of hazardous drinking and its harmful consequences remain high.
Current research has examined motivations to drink, but a new University of Michigan study suggests that focusing on the reasons young adults choose not to drink could enhance strategies to prevent negative consequences associated with alcohol use.
Brooke Arterberry, a researcher at the Institute for Social Research, and colleagues conducted a study published in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research that explored young adults’ day-to-day reasons for not using alcohol and whether those differed by demographic factors, weekend vs. weekday, typical drinking motivations and participants’ recent alcohol consumption.
Data were from 614 young adults who, in the last month, had consumed alcohol but had skipped drinking for at least one day. They filled out an online survey about their alcohol use. Recent alcohol use was categorized as moderate drinking (50%; less than 5 drinks in a row), binge drinking (31%; 5+ drinks in a row) or high-intensity drinking (19%; 10+ drinks in a row).
Over two weeks, they filled out daily surveys on the previous day’s alcohol use and their motives for drinking or reasons for not drinking.
Social, coping, enhancement and conformity—or to fit in—were some of the motives for drinking.
The surveys offered 12 reasons for not drinking and yielded 5,546 reports on nondrinking days. The most common reasons for not drinking were:
- Lack of interest in alcohol
- Not wanting to get drunk
- Not usually drinking on that night of the week
- Not wanting alcohol to interfere with school or work
- Needing the money for other things
Among less common reasons for not drinking were using another drug instead (overwhelmingly cannabis), a recent hangover and medical reasons.
These reasons not to drink were linked in varying ways to sex, race/ethnicity, weekend vs. weekday and alcohol use motives. For example, women had greater odds than men of reporting a lack of interest in drinking, not wanting to get drunk and recent hangovers.”
Brooke Arterberry, Researcher, Institute for Social Research
Journal reference:
Arterberry, B. J., et al. (2024). Prevalence and correlates of daily‐level reasons not to drink among young adults who use alcohol. Alcohol, Clinical & Experimental Research. doi.org/10.1111/acer.15349.