Binge alcohol use in the past month among persons aged 18-25 years in the U.S. from 2002 to 2022, by gender

Shoutout to the spike in women drinking when Trump got elected

Correlation is not causation, but...

The election was 15-16. Spike happened 14-15. Wondering if it was a methodology change to jump that much in 1 year?

Also fuck me but that was already 10 years ago. Was trying to recall if there was maybe some kind of viral social media thing that might have happened in 2014.
- Gamergate
- Robin Williams killed himself and Bill Cosby was arrested.
- The text is to the left on '15; zoom in and compare the circles to the year. It was a 15-16 jump according to the dots.
- Was there one of the several "once in a lifetime" economic crashes that year? I can't remember, but that was my first thought.
- The advent of white claw

Obligatory NYT headline: "Alcohol poisoning used to be a time honoured pasttime in this small town, but Millennial woke mob took it all away."

I think at least part of it is due to weed. Both it being legalized and being more popular than it's ever been in non-legal states. At least for me, smoking weed kills my desire to drink nearly as much. Usually at parties or just hang outs it starts off with a beer or mixed drink or three, then someone breaks out the weed and suddenly I'm nursing my fourth drink for an hour.

Would we not expect sudden changes then? This is a steady decline, not indicating any sudden changes in laws or anything.
- Weed legalization hasn't been sudden though. It's progressed from medical to decriminalized to legal state by excruciating state.
  
  As this graph is national, it makes sense that there wouldn't be a cliff because there's no particular date when we could say weed became legal.
  
  Still not legal in any way here in texasss, and I assume we'll be the very last of the last to do so. But even here, it's so easily accessible that a good number of younger people I know tell me they prefer weed to alcohol. In legal states, that tendency must be much higher.
- Legalization efforts have been piecemeal throughout the country, and still less than half the states have direct recreational access. I'm sure it's a factor, but until we have federal recreational legalization, we should see a downward trend instead of a drop.
- Weed has had a steady increase in popularity since like the 70s. I kind of agree, I'm sure there should be some cliff in the states where it was legalized, or if not my theory is bunk. It's only based on an anecdote tbf.
  
  Edit: actually if we want any theory it seems pretty clear that the beginning of the drop off started right about at the market crash of 2008.
  
  Also interesting that female rates stayed steady to the point that they've actually overtaken male rates.
Interesting. Personally, it doesn’t kill my desire to drink when I do decide to go on a bender. If anything, for me it gets easier to drink when there’s weed involved, as I just don’t enjoy most alcoholic beverages, taste wise. However, since access to weed got easier and I don’t have to hide anymore, when the occasion to get a buzz happens, I just prefer the weed high to being drunk, and I can skip the hangover.
The graph maker certainly seems to think so at least

the shift to cannabis and other alternatives is here
I think it's also in part due to easier access at an earlier age compared to alcohol and the rapid increase in quality. Weed is easy to grow, and even kids have been selling it to their friends in school for forever. But gone are the days of buying skunk weed off some dude you barely know. There's 13 year olds out there today smoking stuff of a quality that the hippies could only dream of.

Plus, when it comes to drugs, as a late Millennial, I knew a lot more kids who became heroin addicts as teenagers than alcoholics - and they started their drug use years before showing up on this graph. During Bush's presidency, heroin from Afghanistan became a lot more easily accessible on the east coast, and I used to say when I was a teenager that heroin was more popular with my generation because it was too awkward to go to the bar and see your friends' parents day drinking.
- I'm not sure how it all factors in but there's evidence that teenagers are using weed less: https://coloradosun.com/2024/06/26/youth-marijuana-use-colorado-legalization/

I'm shocked there's no bump in 2020-2021. Many people I know, myself included, started drinking so much more during the pandemic.

These are also self reported numbers.

I know I wasn’t telling people how much I was drinking during the pandemic
- I wonder if that could be the entire cause od the drop, the stigma became greater so men just lie about it.
Also how are we defining "binge" drinking
I found people went one of two ways. I know plenty of people who drank more, but also plenty of people (myself included) who basically went cold turkey for two years. I don't enjoy drinking by myself so I didn't
In the 18-25 age bracket though?
Same

It went from 50% to 30% which is less but the scale makes you feel it is much lower

Yeah, graphs that are cut off is misleading graphs 101.
- Sometimes you just have to trust the audience to be literate. A 20% drop is very significant, it's not like they're trying to make a .5% decline look like the Temperance movement.
Yeah and also its a decline in male binge drinking. Female hasn't really changed after a short term uptick.
- that's still an overall decline.

I enjoy being intoxicated all day and not having a raging headache the day(s) after. Weed 4 Life!

Not sayig drinking is fine, but you sound like you're dehydrated. If you can stomach water whilr drinking it reduces the negative effects
- The post was about binge drinking, which is a specific kind of "drinking"? I was comparing the differences between "binging" both drugs and the effects they cause after the fact.
You may also get a hangover from weed, but it isn't as bad as the one from alcohol.

It looks more like the correct headline is binge drinking among men drops to the same level as women's binge drinking. The red line ends very close to where it starts.

That's a very good point.

I'm in the 18-25 demographic. I don't binge drink cuz tummy hurt :(

Never been a fan, spiking my two quarts of iced tea with a shot of something strong and delicious is always the way to go.

Tastes good, no hangover, mild buzz is easy to maintain, and enough to share if it's that kind of night.

Now do the UK.

Would be interesting to compare and contrast with a country that doesn't have legal weed

Dunno about the rest of the UK but here in Scotland £100 is s night out
- In Manchester here, pretty much the same if you include transport and a kebab.
  
  More like £150-200 if you want to drink nice and get mortal
I work with students a lot in the UK, and there has been a real shift in attitudes towards alcohol. Yes, they will still go out drinking, but no where near the extent previous generations have. Part of it will be that the government paid for my and my predecessors education, and even given adjustments for timescale, booze was sooooo much cheaper then than now.

As a non-drinker that seems like a lot, OTOH, I have spent a lot on liquor for cooking so...

It’s depends if that’s from a store or a bar/restaurant. You can spend $100 on drinks at one dinner in NY if you’re taking someone out. Two people at $8-$15 a drink plus tip adds up fast.

What happened to the women in '15/'16 lol

Binge drinking in celebration of first female president. Then binge drinking because Trump became president instead?
- Exactly

I don't live in a civilized state with legal weed, but I can get the hemp derived delta 9 gummies at any smoke shop, and they do a damn fine job (until Ken Paxton gets a hard-on for criminalizing them anyway)

Since I've had easy access to cannabis that I don't have to smoke, my desire to drink has plummeted.

I'm not gonna tell you that I've quit drinking. I'm not even gonna tell you that I've quit binge drinking.

But I am gonna tell you that I was once that guy who centered his entire existence on "when can I start drinking?"

Today, without any interventions, without any criminal charges, without any AA, without any conscious decision, I've somehow become entirely indifferent to alcohol.

I'll buy a twelve pack of beer here and there or a bottle of whiskey. Used to be either would be gone the next day. Now it'll take months (plural) to get through either one.

Downside: I've been a whole lot less social without the lubrication of alcohol. Weed doesn't make me social. It puts me to sleep.

Upside: I've pretty much ceased all alcohol related bad decisions. No more sorting through texts from the previous night or having to apologize.

Really big upside: No hangovers

Young people don't have my decades of experiences to arrive where I am today. Seems like they've found the equilibrium without first having to pay to price of alcohol consequences, and good for them.

The alcohol business has known this, and they're one of the biggest opposition to legalized weed behind the scenes.

Is that vos everyones too busy trying to feed themselves they can't afford to get drunk.

No, economic declines, including all the way into famine tend to increase rates of alcoholism.

The scale of the graph is a bit misleading though.

... what's wrong with the scale?

E: Apparently people just going through life looking at graphs ignoring everything on the graphs except LINE GO DOWN AND UP!!!
- It's only showing the range from 60% to 30%, which makes the 20% drop in male binge drinking rates look more like an ~80% drop to near-zero unless you pay close attention to the scale.

There's apparently a similar story for the amount of sex younger people are having. I've always attributed the story to the internet and social media. IE, Younger people are just getting their "fix" from and are addicted to something else and aren't bored in the same way older generations were when they were young.

That would fit. Trend lines start dropping around the time that smart phones really started to be good and smartphone use actually become a viable passtime
- Yep, along with Facebook becoming huge (~'08-09) with the (male) trend line starting to drop, by my eye, around '10.
Bingo. I feel like I've seen charts lately of that same age group hanging out in person less too. Ain't the same getting hammered alone.
Can't post if you're shit faced.

Average of $105/month, that's much.

Now add other drugs to the chart

I wonder how much of a role palate refinement is for this trend. For example: Starbucks, for as terrible as their coffee is, did a lot to elevate the overall regard of coffee; bean juice was no longer just a bitter stew we tolerated to get our caffeine fix. Starbucks broke trail for craft coffee roasting more general popularity.

Could it be the same with alcoholic beverages? I used to think Maker's Mark was the best bourbon going. Now I know better, but so many of the craft bourbons are expensive or just plain hard to find. Ditto for my favorite hazy IPAs. Why binge drink the good stuff when your palate is going to be wrecked after three beers? And since I'm not going to drink swill, welp, guess I'm not going to get drunk tonight!

~~the graph covers 20 years. i think what we're seeing is the 35+ y.o. people gradually cutting back because the doctor's telling them to stop beating the shit out of their liver, in additio~~n to younger generations not picking up the "let's get shitfaced every weekend" habit

edit : I guess I should learn to read
- Except the graph only covers 18-25 year olds. Those who aged out simply stopped being included in the reported population of this graph.
- i think what we're seeing is the 35+ y.o. people gradually cutting back because the doctor's telling them to stop beating the shit out of their liver
  
  No, that's not how the graph works. It isn't following one generational cohort as they age; it's measuring the behavior of a certain age group and switching to new people as they age out.
  
  It's only measuring the second part of what you wrote.
- Naltrexone helps for anyone already seeing the doctor to curb the drinking urges.
  
  Getting prescribed ER Adderall has done wonders for my other addictions lol.
Used to work in the industry. The common joke was that Starbucks is a dairy business with a side coffee business. They move a hell of a lot of dairy. They had word-of-mouth and an insatiable appetite to fill every strip mall. I wouldn't say their coffee was ever good or great. It just had to be better than McDonalds which is not saying much. Good business plan though.

It looks like the collapse is due to men alone, which is interesting that it is only targeting one gender.

If the difference is switching to cannabis, men do tend to be heavier users.

(Side note: one article I saw while looking for this referred to it as the "grass ceiling" lol)
- Oh shit, that's fucking funny
- The increase / trend there seems to be about the same though. The alcohol chart looks completely detached which I wondered about as well.

What’s with the spike for females? Wonder if it was political.

This graph is quite confusing and not beautiful. Months? Years? The words and numbers font correlate.

Alcohol was good enough for my viking ancestors so it's good enough for me.

Crazy how well this correlates with the rise in depression, anxiety, and social media use in young people.

Binge drinking is obviously not the answer, but getting out and being uninhibited with other young people in the real world seems like a pretty important element of being young as well as being happy.

i've been smoking pot since i was 13. i've switched to alcoholism over the last couple of years. if yall are gonna copy me, i'm gonna do something different.

signed, a 50 year old

Huh, I'm surprised there wasn't more of a spike due to COVID.

Young people were essential workers..

This is good! Well done, young people!

Everyone saying it is due to weed or alcohol being expensive...how about if the youth today are simply smarter?

I'm old myself and I was old man shocked when I walked past a group of young preppy boys having fun with their mopeds and standing in the middle of the street yelling and playing loud music with six packs of beer all around.

However, that's not what shocked me: It was only when I saw that the six packs were 0%. Nevermind the racket, these kids were having fun without alcohol. Skibidi cray to you too.

when weed is cheap and legal, booze takes a dive. ladies better watch themselves tho, that's incredibly troubling.

It's still cool. It's just prohibitively expensive.

Binge drinking is not cool
- Not cool maybe but fun.
I can get a 1.75L of Vodka and 1.75L of spiced rum for $20 total in my state...

Incredible amount of alcoholics in these comments.

Kinda sad. No fun you can have like being shitfaced. When I look back on those times those are definitely the highlights. Feel sorry for the youth, they just aren't as fun.

Kind wish I grew up at an earlier date. The 90's and 00's looked so much fun and when I talk to older people I'm always jealous of their cool stories. Younger people don't see to have as much good stories, even accounting for time.

The sad one is the one thinking alcoholism is fun and that "cool stories" are a measurement of the enjoyment of life.

When you love your life so much that you need to destroy your brain until you start having "fun" and that your stories are all based on the stupid behaviours it induced, what you need is not alcohol but psychiatric help.
- Haha I always find it hilarious how defensive and high and mighty people get about not drinking.
  
  Fun comes with risk. But where older people went out and socialised with people are now just doom scrolling social media. There is a brain health cost to most things. Humans are built for socialising and most cultures are built with alcohol being a big part of that.
  
  your stories are all based on the stupid behaviours it induced
  
  Haha yea. Good times.
  
  what you need is not alcohol but psychiatric help.
  
  How does that create fun stories?