Overview
- The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey reports 2025 past-year drinking fell to 41% of 12th graders, 24% of 10th graders, and 11% of 8th graders.
- Researchers say lifetime abstention from substances reached historic highs for 8th and 10th graders in 2025, with near highs for 12th graders.
- Commentary highlights fewer parties, dates, and hangouts as teens shift more social time to phones, with reported loneliness rising since 2010.
- Gen Z researcher Rachel Janfaza points to three forces reducing drinking: pandemic-driven social shifts, body-optimization culture, and economic strain on dating.
- An AEI analysis warns the drop may reflect lost social rituals that once built friendship, citing the Surgeon General’s 2023 loneliness advisory and calling for stronger places to gather.