Understanding non-drinking days may inform alcohol prevention strategies

Understanding the reasons why young adults choose not to drink on certain days may inform prevention and intervention programs aimed at reducing the harms associated with alcohol consequences.

Although alcohol use is declining among young adults, rates of hazardous drinking and its harmful consequences remain high.

Current research has examined motivations to drink, but a new University of Michigan study suggests that focusing on the reasons young adults choose not to drink could enhance strategies to prevent negative consequences associated with alcohol use.

Brooke Arterberry, a researcher at the Institute for Social Research, and colleagues conducted a study published in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research that explored young adults’ day-to-day reasons for not using alcohol and whether those differed by demographic factors, weekend vs. weekday, typical drinking motivations and participants’ recent alcohol consumption.

Data were from 614 young adults who, in the last month, had consumed alcohol but had skipped drinking for at least one day. They filled out an online survey about their alcohol use. Recent alcohol use was categorized as moderate drinking (50%; less than 5 drinks in a row), binge drinking (31%; 5+ drinks in a row) or high-intensity drinking (19%; 10+ drinks in a row).

Over two weeks, they filled out daily surveys on the previous day’s alcohol use and their motives for drinking or reasons for not drinking.

Social, coping, enhancement and conformity—or to fit in—were some of the motives for drinking.

The surveys offered 12 reasons for not drinking and yielded 5,546 reports on nondrinking days. The most common reasons for not drinking were:

• Lack of interest in alcohol
• Not wanting to get drunk
• Not usually drinking on that night of the week
• Not wanting alcohol to interfere with school or work
• Needing the money for other things

Among less common reasons for not drinking were using another drug instead (overwhelmingly cannabis), a recent hangover and medical reasons.

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

Brooke Arterberry, Researcher, Institute for Social Research

Hispanic participants and four-year college students were more likely than others to report not drinking because of possible negative consequences, including alcohol interfering with school or work. Non-Hispanic white young adults were more likely to report a lack of interest in alcohol that day.

People who engaged in binge drinking or high-intensity drinking were more likely than moderate drinkers to report recent hangovers.

Motivation matters

Participants who reported more social motives for drinking were more likely than others to report a lack of interest in alcohol and reported fewer reasons not to drink related to consequences. Young adults who reported more coping motives for drinking were more likely to report reasons not to drink related to negative consequences, like upsetting family and friends.

As for the people who reported more enhancement motives, they were more likely to report using other drugs instead. Individuals who reported more conformity motives were more likely to report situational barriers, such as having no one to drink with.

“The study enhances our understanding of young adults’ motives related to drinking,” Arterberry said. “It could inform interventions that address both reasons to drink and not to drink, potentially strengthening public health messaging and providing opportunities for tailoring prevention and intervention strategies.”

A vast majority of participants said that on some days, they weren’t interested in drinking and didn’t want to get drunk.

“Programming could, for example, emphasize this lack of interest in alcohol while also highlighting the benefits of avoiding negative consequences,” Arterberry said. “Interventions could also highlight the value of self-imposed situational barriers like saving money.”

The research was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study’s authors also included Sarah Peterson and Megan Patrick of U-M’s Institute for Social Research and Ty Schepis of Texas State University.