By Karen Sternheimer

A recent Gallup Poll found that the number of American adults who report being alcohol drinkers has fallen to an all-time low in the poll’s 86-year history. Just 54 percent responded that they drink alcohol on occasion, down from recent highs of 67 percent (2022 and 2010), and the all-time high of 71 percent (1976-1978).

I wrote about alcohol consumption for the Everyday Sociology Blog’s inaugural post in 2007, and thought it would be interesting to revisit the topic and consider what changes may have taken place in the past 18 years that might help us explain the decline.

Gallup’s polling about perceptions about moderate drinking drive the story in their report. Twenty years ago, just 22 percent responded that moderate drinking (two drinks or less) was “bad for your health,” compared with 53 percent in 2025. While they discuss shifting news reports of research during this time—from moderate drinking is good for your health to not so good—one of the most interesting findings is the perception based on age.

The perception that drinking is bad for one’s health has nearly doubled in the past decade, but older age groups are far less likely to report that moderate drinking is bad for one’s health than the 18 to 34 age group. While two-thirds of young adults view drinking as bad for your health, just around half of those 35 and older agree.

This disparity reflects a trend that many people aren’t aware of, that teens today are far less likely to have drunk alcohol in the past twelve months than they were in the past five decades, according to Monitoring the Future’s (MTF) ongoing research:

Source: https://monitoringthefuture.org/data/bx-by/drug-prevalence/#drug=%22%22

As you can see from the graph, this shift is dramatic. In 1979, 88 percent of twelfth graders had alcohol within the past year. The percentage remained at or above 80 percent until 1991. In 2024, the most recent year for which we have data, that percentage was at an all-time low. Just 41 percent reported alcohol use within the past year, less than half of the percentage in much of the 1980s, when their parents might have been in high school.

The National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) conducted a larger study and found a similar pattern of decline in the 12- to 17-year-old age group in 2023. They found just under 22 percent of teens had had alcohol in their lifetime, and just under 17 percent had consumed alcohol in the past year.

We are seeing people grow up with less alcohol consumption and become young adults who are less likely to drink, and perhaps more likely to view alcohol as bad for one’s health.

Since writing this blog’s first post in 2007, we have seen dramatic declines in teen drinking, but still see plenty of news stories warning about the dangers of teen drinking: its risk factors, what happens when parents let teens drink alcohol, and links between drinking and IQ. There are still many sites warning parents how to spot troubling teen behavior with alcohol and other substances.

As I wrote in 2007:

And let’s not forget that alcohol is a huge industry that depends on well-off [adults] to be their best customers. This industry can well afford the much-touted “We Card” programs because teens usually don’t have the money for the expensive stuff that their parents can buy.

We in America have an uneasy relationship with alcohol. On the one hand, we celebrate many happy occasions, conduct business deals, and mark holidays with a drink. Many people drink responsibly and never let alcohol or drugs impair their judgment or interfere with their lives.

And yet there are still vestiges of the old Puritan ethic hanging around, the same cultural strain that promoted temperance a century ago. Puritans believed in denying pleasure in favor of productivity, and in many ways we have not reconciled these two seemingly opposing forces yet. By focusing so much on trying to control those whom we think cannot control themselves, we can take the focus off of ourselves and our own confusion about where to draw the line between feeling good and being responsible. 

Just as in 2007, we seem to have trouble letting go of the narrative of teens as threats, even after decades of positive change. Apply your sociological imagination: Why do you think this is the case?