When a non-drinker continues to be a non-drinker during adolescence. A reply to Raninen et al

Abstract

The shift from asking ‘why adolescents drink?’ to ‘why do they not drink?’ indicates a broad declining trend in alcohol consumption among adolescents over the last couple of decades. More scientific studies have shown interest in these processes at both the individual and societal levels. This reply highlights the main key points that we find important to clarify and elaborate a bit further: 1) age differences and long-term perspectives, 2) the definition of non-drinking, 3) outcome measures, 4) the nature of the samples, and 5) attrition in longitudinal studies. By employing a stringent definition of non-drinking and focusing on social interactions and psychological health, our research complements existing literature on adolescent alcohol consumption.

Keywords

• Non-drinking
• adolescents
• alcohol use
• Sweden
• longitudinal design