Anxiety Might Be High, But Substance Abuse Is Way Down Among Teens

In previous generations, the adolescent years have often involved experimenting with alcohol and/or drugs. For the current crop of teens, however, many are eschewing any such substances altogether.

And the survey says

The results of a recent study found that at all stages of high school, students are reporting less drinking, smoking, and drug use than in the past. Here are some highlights:

• Roughly 2 in 3 high school seniors said they haven’t used alcohol, marijuana, or cigarettes at all over the past 30 days.
• Among 10th graders, only about 20% of those surveyed said they had used any of those substances during the same period.
• Nine out of 10 students in 8th grade told researchers that they had never smoked or drank alcohol in their entire lives.

Such news is likely to come as a bit of relief for parents of teens and younger children who worry about the effects of peer pressure. But there’s no guarantee that the current trend will continue, of course, and experts think they know what caused the numbers to start decreasing in the first place.

The pandemic factor

Like so many of the fundamental changes our society has endured over the past several years, it seems that COVID-19 is a major reason so many of today’s teens are abstaining from these substances.

Richard Miech of the University of Michigan led the study and acknowledged that “everyone expected at least a partial rebound” in drug and alcohol use after pandemic lockdowns initially kept the numbers suppressed.

Instead, he explained: “The pandemic stopped the cycle of new kids coming in and being recruited to drug use.”

Drinking, cigarette smoking, and vaping were on the decline even before the pandemic, but the rate has increased since then.

Chris Agee December 19th, 2024

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