VOA健康报道2024--Study: Most US Teens Do Not Drink, Smoke

Drug use among teenagers has continued to drop since the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large national study says.

The federally financed Monitoring the Future study has been carried out yearly since 1975. However, the study only started measuring abstinence - the practice of rejecting alcohol or recreational drug use - in 2017.

This year's findings are based on answers from about 24,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 in schools across the United States.

One major finding: About 66 percent of 12th graders said they had not used alcohol, marijuana, and traditional or electronic cigarettes in the previous 30 days.

That share, or proportion, of students is the largest since the yearly study started measuring abstinence.

The study is "one of the best, if not the best" source of national data for substance use by teens, said Noah Kreski. Kreski is a Columbia University data analyst¹ who has studied teen drug use.

Among 10th graders, 80 percent said they had not used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes or e-cigarettes recently, another record. Among 8th graders, 90 percent did not use any of them, the same as was reported in the previous study.

The only major increase found was in the use of nicotine² pouches³, small, white containers of nicotine which users place in their mouths. About 6 percent of 12th graders said they had used that form of nicotine in the past year, up from about 3 percent in 2023.

Whether that has the makings of a new public health problem is unclear. The University of Michigan's Richard Miech, who leads the study, said: "It's hard to know if we're seeing the start of something, or not."

Early in the pandemic, students across the country were told not to go to schools and to avoid parties or other gatherings⁴. Alcohol and drug use of all kinds dropped likely because use most often happens in friend group settings. Friends often influence each other to use drugs, experts say.

As lockdowns ended, "I think everyone expected at least a partial rebound⁵," Miech said.

Even before the pandemic, there were decreases in teen cigarette smoking, drinking and the use of several kinds of drugs. Experts suggested that teens were staying home as opposed to spending time in social settings, in which use of illegal substances is more likely.

But marijuana use was not falling before the pandemic. And vaping was increasing. It was only during the pandemic that those activities began to decrease also.

Some experts wonder if the pandemic lockdowns had a deeper influence.

Miech noted⁶ that a lot of teens who experiment with e-cigarettes or drugs start in the 9th grade, sometimes because older children are doing it. But the children who were 9th graders during the lockdowns never picked up the activity. And they never had the opportunity to turn into negative influencers of their younger classmates, he said.

"The pandemic stopped the cycle of new kids coming in and being recruited to drug use," Miech said.

Mental health may also play a part. There were increased reports of depression and anxiety in kids after the pandemic began. Depression is often linked with substance use, but some people with depression and anxiety are very cautious about experimenting with drugs, said Dr. Duncan Clark. Clark is a University of Pittsburgh medical doctor who researches substance use in kids.

"Some teens with anxiety are worried about the effects of substances. They may also be socially inhibited⁸ and have less opportunity to use drugs," Clark said.

I'm John Russell.

Mike Stobbe reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

teenager - n. a child over the age of 12

nicotine - n. an alkaloid substance that is the chief active principle of tobacco

rebound - n. an upward movement

inhibit⁷ -v. to prohibit from doing something; to discourage from activity

1 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

2 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

3 pouches   

n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋

参考例句：

• Pouches are a peculiarity of marsupials. 腹袋是有袋动物的特色。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Under my eyes the pouches were heavy. 我眼睛下的眼袋很深。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

5 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 inhibit   

vt.阻止，妨碍，抑制

参考例句：

• Don't let ego and greed inhibit clear thinking and hard work.不要让自我和贪婪妨碍清晰的思维和刻苦的工作。
• They passed a law to inhibit people from parking in the street.他们通过一项法令以阻止人们在街上停车。

8 inhibited   

a.拘谨的，拘束的

参考例句：

• Boys are often more inhibited than girls about discussing their problems. 男孩子往往不如女孩子敢于谈论自己的问题。
• Having been laughed at for his lameness,the boy became shy and inhibited. 那男孩因跛脚被人讥笑，变得羞怯而压抑。