Study Aims to Understand Young Adults’ Motives for Not Using Alcohol

A new study finds the top reasons young adults give for choosing not to use alcohol include lack of interest in alcohol and not wanting to get drunk. Understanding young adults’ motivations for not drinking can be used to improve prevention and intervention programs, the researchers say.

Other top reasons for avoiding alcohol use include not usually drinking on that night of the week; not wanting alcohol to interfere with school of work; and needing the money for other things.

The researchers surveyed 614 participants, who were an average of 21.5 years old. About two-thirds were college students, The Washington Post reports. The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“These reasons not to drink were linked in varying ways to sex, race/ethnicity, weekend vs. weekday and alcohol use motives,” researcher Brooke Arterberry of the University of Michigan said in a news release. “For example, women had greater odds than men of reporting a lack of interest in drinking, not wanting to get drunk and recent hangovers.”