Record numbers of teens now abstain, a trend starting during the Covid pandemic and continuing to the present

Summary

Teen drug, alcohol, and tobacco use in the U.S. continues to decline, with record-low usage levels reported in 2023, according to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey.

Among 12th graders, 66% reported no recent use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, while 80% of 10th graders and 90% of 8th graders avoided these substances entirely.

Experts attribute the decline partly to reduced peer pressure during the pandemic.

However, nicotine pouch use has doubled among 12th graders, raising concerns.

Despite pop culture’s glamorization of smoking, teen cigarette use remains low.

  • jeffw@lemmy.worldEnglish
    462·
    3 days ago

    “Drug use, particularly among adolescents, is typically a social event,” said Miech. “The social distancing policies during the pandemic were designed so that all teenagers and adolescents hardly interacted with anybody except their own immediate family.”

    So… they don’t have friends? Very uplifting

    • jj4211@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      3 days ago

      Well, they have friends, but after spending about a year not seeing them in person, they are used to just meeting them online. At least anecdotally that’s what I’m seeing with the kids of my group, that going out is a hassle and online is good enough. When they do, it’s maybe a total of three or four people hanging out, no big parties to speak of.

      On a related note, the schools I know of pretty much stopped having dances other than the prom. In fact, from what I hear, the ability for students to socialize broadly has been pretty much tanked since the pandemic (stricter schedules, no more lockers, and various other measures instituted to avoid congregating students after pandemic and those policies seem to have stuck, presumably because it makes the students a bit easier to manage. It’s been a cause for concern for me about their social development, as while I never was big on those events, I at least remember a lot more downtime on school grounds that our kids don’t seem to get.

      Not just them, frankly we haven’t really been seeing folks in person nearly as much since the pandemic. There are certain special occasions, but we almost never have a “random” visit for no particular reason anymore.