The global nature of declining adolescent drinking

Does Caluzzi et al.’s [1] theory explain the phenomenon of declining drinking among adolescents, or does it only describe it by using classical sociological vocabulary? Their hypothesis does not address the fact that the decline has taken place world‐wide: what global changes in youths’ living conditions could account for decreased alcohol consumption?

Caluzzi and colleagues’ article [1] is a welcome step forward in trying to account for adolescents’ declining alcohol consumption. Instead of focusing upon separate independent variables that might affect alcohol consumption among youth, it tries to provide an explanation for the ‘big picture’. However, I have two critical remarks regarding their proposal, according to which the phenomenon can be described as denormalization of drinking and normalization of non‐drinking. First, in what sense does the theory explain the phenomenon, or does it only describe it by using classical sociological vocabulary? Secondly, the hypothesis does not address the intriguing and important fact that the decline has taken place world‐wide.

I share the authors’ starting‐point, according to which one cannot explain the ‘big picture’ by variables that correlate with individuals’ alcohol consumption levels. The change is obviously generational and therefore calls for a cultural explanation. In the proposed explanation there is, however, the danger that it merely reformulates the phenomenon and therefore results in circular reasoning. As alcohol consumption among adolescents has declined, it almost necessarily means that a growing number of individuals in social situations abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages. Hence, such behaviour becomes increasingly normal. We can name this ‘normalization of non‐drinking’, or even ‘denormalization of drinking’: drinking is more seldom considered as a normal, self‐evident behavioural model. When people's experiences of behaviour in social situations change, they also adjust their opinions as to what they consider normal, acceptable or preferable conduct. Which comes first: do individuals first change their views on social norms and then behave accordingly, or is it the other way around? Or is talking about norms and normalization/denormalization simply a way to describe the phenomenon by using another vocabulary?

It is not uncommon in socio‐economic theorizing to conceive of cultural changes as some type of autonomous waves that come and go: Kondratiev waves in economics are one example [2]. However, unlike economic trends, we cannot simply assume that despite national differences in, for instance, drinking habits, there are world‐wide trends in individuals’ behaviour without proposing any mechanism behind a change. In this respect, the hypothesis on denormalization of drinking and normalization of non‐drinking is deficient: it does not address nor reflect upon potential institutional changes that would clarify why alcohol consumption is less common among adolescents. Is it because there are more institutional contexts of interaction wherein nobody drinks, or does a growing proportion of individuals abstain in contexts where others drink alcoholic beverages? Or, generally speaking, what are the typical contexts in which adolescents drink or used to drink that have now become less common or ‘dryer’?

The proposed explanation does not address the world‐wide nature of this trend towards decreasing alcohol consumption. Talk about social norms or normalization/denormalization implies a global cultural change. So how did this come about? From this viewpoint, it would be interesting to see whether there is evidence of such a shift in, for instance, transnational popular culture, preferably prior to its alleged effect on youngsters’ alcohol consumption.

I suggest that better explanations can be found by identifying global changes in adolescents’ everyday life and social environments. From this viewpoint, the rise of social media and mobile digital communication devices simultaneously with decreasing alcohol consumption is a promising way to account for the phenomenon (e.g. see Room et al. [3]). Could it be that, as socializing with peers and initiating romantic relationships takes place increasingly in virtual contexts, there are fewer occasions in which alcohol would serve as a social lubricant [4]? The normalization/denormalization hypotheses are not in contradiction with such institutional explanations; they only more clearly explain why this change has taken place now and world‐wide.

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Alasuutari P. The global nature of declining adolescent drinking. Addiction. 2022;117:1213–1214. 10.1111/add.15750