TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Normalization of non-drinking? Health, school situation and social relations among Swedish ninth graders that drink and do not drink alcohol JO - International journal of environmental research and public health A1 - Raninen, Jonas A1 - Larm, Peter A1 - Svensson, Johan A1 - Livingston, Michael A1 - Sjödin, Lars A1 - Karlsson, Patrik SP - e11201 EP - e11201 VL - 18 IS - 21 N2 - Alcohol consumption is a major contributor to the disease burden among adolescents. The adolescent alcohol abstainer is still often depicted as problematic in the research literature and in prominent theoretical frameworks. However, over the past two decades, there has been a marked trend of declining youth drinking in Sweden. The declining trend has led to a shift in the majority behaviour of youth, from drinking to non-drinking. It is plausible that this trend has also shifted the position of non-drinkers. This paper examines the position of non-drinkers in a nationally representative sample of Swedish adolescents. A survey was carried out in 2017 in 500 randomly selected schools. A total of 5549 respondents (15-16-year-olds) agreed to participate and answered the questionnaire. A minority (42.8%) had consumed alcohol during their lifetime. The results show that non-drinkers had better health and school performance when compared to drinkers. The results also showed that there were no differences in the social position between non-drinkers and drinkers. These findings are new and indicate a changed position of non-drinkers among Swedish adolescents. With non-drinking being the majority behaviour among Swedish adolescents this seems to have shifted the position of non-drinkers. There is a need for research on the long-term importance of not drinking during adolescence.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1661-7827 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111201 ID - ref1 ER -