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Young People and Temporary Alcohol Abstinence During Dry January

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Young Adult Drinking Styles

Abstract

Alcohol abstinence challenges such as “Dry January” are popular across the world. Because young people drink in different ways than older adults, Dry January may present different challenges for younger and older drinkers. This chapter presents analyses of surveys completed by 4146 Dry January participants. The results show that young adults enter Dry January for different reasons and with different motivations than older people. Young adults are significantly more likely to stay dry during January, with their success most strongly predicted by a lower frequency of drunkenness, and making more use of the support provided by Dry January. The experience of Dry January is somewhat different for younger and older participants and that the two groups may benefit from different kinds of support and encouragement.

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Correspondence to Richard de Visser .

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de Visser, R. (2019). Young People and Temporary Alcohol Abstinence During Dry January. In: Conroy, D., Measham, F. (eds) Young Adult Drinking Styles. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28607-1_13

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