Journal Article

Trend analyses and comparison of characteristics of current-, former- and never-drinkers among young adults in France from 2000 to 2021

Gautier, Arnaud, de Ternay, Julia, de Dinechin, Sébastien, Jauffret-Roustide, Marie, Davalos, Ricardo, Rolland, Benjamin, Andler, Raphaël

2025

Overview

Background An overall decrease in alcohol consumption has recently been observed among a growing segment of the youth population in Western countries. Our study aimed to assess evolving trends in the rates of current-, former- and never- alcohol drinkers among 18-30-year-old French individuals between 2000 and 2021, and to compare their socio-economic characteristics, psychoactive substance use, and health-related parameters. Methods We used cross-sectional survey data from the 2000, 2005, 2010, 2014, 2017 and 2021 editions of the French Health Barometer, and tested the existence of a linear trend in current-, former- and never-drinking among young adults aged 18 to 30 over time. We compared the characteristics of the three groups by conducting a multivariable logistic regression. Results In total, 26,622 participants were included in our analyses. We found no significant changes in the trends of current-, former- and never-drinkers from 2000 to 2021. Post-hoc analyses found no significant changes in the trend of at-risk drinkers during the same period. Compared to current-drinkers, former- and never- drinkers were less likely to be male (OR: 0.75 [0.66; 0.85]); OR: 0.48 [0.43; 0.54]), and were more likely to have incomplete high school education (OR: 1.70 [1.47; 1.97]; OR: 1.72 [1.51; 1.96]), to be unemployed (OR: 1.58 [1.33; 1.89]; OR: 1.34 [1.15; 1.56]), to have a low income (OR: 1.88 [1.62; 2.19]; OR: 1.28 [1.13; 1.45]), to have a higher level of physical activity (OR: 2.57 [2.25; 2.95]; OR: 1.38 [1.24; 1.55]), and to practice a religion (OR: 17.16, 95CI [15.08; 19.53]; OR: 5.43 [4.88; 6.05]). Never-drinkers were less likely to have experimented with tobacco and cannabis, as well as other illicit drugs, while former-drinkers were less likely to report current tobacco use or past-year cannabis use. Conclusions In contrast to other countries, we found no clear trend indicating a shift in the patterns of alcohol use among young adults aged 18–30 in France from 2000 to 2021. Groups of current-, former- and never-drinkers differed in socio-economic, socio-demographic, health-related parameters and substance use characteristics.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Abstinence / Adolescent / Adult / Adults / Alcohol abstinence / Alcohol Drinking / Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology / Alcohol Drinking - trends / Alcohol use / Alcoholic beverages / Analysis / Biostatistics / Body mass index / Cannabis / Chronic illnesses / Comparative analysis / Cross-Sectional Studies / Demographic aspects / Drinking behavior / Drinking of alcoholic beverages / Drug abuse / Drugs and youth / Economics / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Female / France / France - epidemiology / Health aspects / Humans / Life Sciences / Male / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Non-drinking adults / Parameters / Pattern Analysis, Machine / Physical activity / Prevention / Public Health / Regression analysis / Risk factors / Santé publique et épidémiologie / Social aspects / Socioeconomic Factors / Socioeconomics / Substance experimentation / Substance use / Substance-Related Disorders / Time trends (Statistics) / Tobacco / Trends / Vaccine / Young Adult / Young adults