Young people begin to distance themselves from alcohol consumption; Yes, it is a finding from various investigations in the United States that brings sociologists and psychologists headlong in their search for conclusions. It does not seem to be a fashionable movement and probably a radical change of patterns and identification.
Perhaps also, at last, the generations that have ruined the world (pollution, authoritarianism, wars and criminality) are being displaced by those who will inherit the planet. This would be very good news.
let’s get started Researchers from the University of Cambridge (Justin Jager, Katherine M. Keyes and Daye Son, among others) found that Generation Z youth consume less alcohol compared to the previous generation, concluding that this is a reversal of the historical trend in USA.
Being a generation, even when living under different cultural patterns, there is no doubt that this trend will also be experienced in Mexico.
There the campaigns against alcohol consumption are not intense. In the case of Mexican women, they fail because they start from the addict’s generation of guilt, instead of assuming him as a victim or patient, according to experts, who evades a painful history.
The addict is not addicted because he wants to be, but because there are internal triggers: abuse, abandonment, etc. It is a long discussion.
The researchers examined possible reasons for this reversal, including sexual convergence in these patterns. As part of the Monitoring America’s National Future study, more than 75,000 young people between the ages of 18 and 30 were surveyed every two years from 1976 to 2006.
They found that the reversal in consumption emerged gradually over the past three decades, suggesting that it is the result of a broad and long-lasting historical shift. Their findings indicate that variation in social roles and the minimum legal drinking age collectively accounted for only a modest amount of the reversal, although marriage was the most influential among the factors examined.
Finally, they found evidence that sexual convergence in heavy drinking was limited by development and was much more pronounced early in the transition to adulthood.
According to a report by Joel Achenbach, in The Washington Post, the most discussed hypothesis is that young people have changed the way they organize their social life. In the past, it was common for teenagers to gather near their schools to drink beer.
However, this trend began to decline before the advent of smartphones and social media, according to study participant Katherine M. Keyes, adding to the mystery.
It is true that, on the other hand, social networks have deprived adolescents of emotional and bodily experiences with their friends and there are a large number of studies on this, as is the case of limiting sexual experiences in this range of population. in Japan.
Keyes argues that this could be a rebound effect from successful anti-smoking campaigns, because cigarettes are often a “gateway drug” to alcohol. “But smoking is out of fashion and teen smoking has dropped dramatically.”
It suggests that young people raised in relatively prosperous times are more likely to adopt a “slow life strategy” in which they postpone many entry-level activities into adulthood.
The study gives clues that social change comes from other routes that are not essentially public policies.
