Teen Drinking Declines in 2016

A trend worth celebrating at the dawn of 2017 was recently unveiled by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan joint 2016 Monitoring the Future Survey. According to the new report, underage drinking among 8th, 10th and 12th graders declined significantly last year. By significantly, the study seriously means - significantly. A USAToday article dated December 13, 2016 entitled, There's hope: Fewer teens are doing drugs than ever before, declared, “American teenagers are the best behaved they’ve ever been - drinking and smoking less and doing fewer drugs than their predecessors in more than 40 years of tracking.”

The Monitoring the Future Survey reported a decline in teen drinking for 8th graders to a rate of 17.6 percent in 2016, down from a high of 54 percent in 1991. Alcohol use in 2016 by 12th graders decline by 2.6 percent from the previous year to 55.6 percent, down from a high of 77.7 percent in 1991. Cigarette smoking has also declined significantly among teens during the the past 40 years. Less than 5 percent of 10th graders reported any cigarette usage in 2016 compared to nearly 21 percent in 1991.

While many experts have opinions regarding the reason for the decline, ranging from parental involvement in their kids’ lives to the decline in public support for smoking (with tobacco viewed as a ‘gateway drug’), no one is really sure why underage drinking and smoking is on the decline. Whatever the reason, it’s news worth celebrating.