Study: Trumbull teen alcohol use rate plummets since 2007
TRUMBULL — A new survey is showing positive results for parents concerned about underage drinking in town. And it also indicates that parental warnings may be having an effect on teens outlooks.
Trumbull’s Prevention Partnership, formerly known as Trumbull Partnership Against Underage Drinking, distributed the online survey in November, and received about 2,600 responses. The results showed that the rate of students at the junior high and high school levels binge drinking or experimenting with alcohol had dropped to its lowest rate in the survey’s history.
Only 6 percent of the students who took the survey said they drank alcohol within the past 30 days, a 5 percent drop from 2021 and a drastic decrease from the 37 percent originally reported in 2007, according to the report.
“The reason we started TPAUD is because survey data came out in 2006 that Trumbull kids were drinking at much higher rates than all of their peers in the region,” TPAUD Project Director Melissa McGarry said. “The school district was appropriately alarmed and decided to do something about it so they went out and found grant funding.”
The survey, which TPAUD administers every two years, is a requirement of the federal DrugFree Communities grant, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The surveys allow us to measure progress we’ve made and identify new trends and issues we can address,” McGarry said. “We’ve come so far in terms of how much the substance use rates have actually declined.”
Robin Bieber, a family therapist at the town’s Mary J. Sherlach Counseling Center, said Trumbull’s results mirror a trend where adults and young people of legal drinking age or consuming less alcohol.
“A lot of clubs opening up are not alcoholic, because young speak like to engage in the club atmosphere but the (non-alcoholic) clubs have become more and more popular,” she said.
McGarry said the time from 2007 to 2023 is essentially a different lifetime when it comes to survey participants.
“Most communities have seen declines in alcohol use as a local, state and national trend, but not to the degree that we have,” she said. “Our rates are actually quite a bit lower than the high school alcohol rates in other suburban communities in Fairfield County.”
McGarry credited these changes to a number of factors including: 82 percent of students who took the survey feeling like they have a trusted adult in their lives, nearly 80 percent of those students believing their teachers care about them and students believing their parents would not approve of them drinking.
First Selectman Vicki Tesoro, one of the founding members of TPAUD, applauded the results.
“TPAUD’s student surveys demonstrate that prevention works, and must continue to be a priority,” Tesoro said. “The decline in youth substance use shows us that when community partners collaborate to support our young people, they make healthy choices. While prevention work is never done, I am proud of the accomplishments of TPAUD and its partners.”
McGarry said that although the alcohol use is down, there is still a concern of youth’s perception of cannabis products due to the legalization and ease of access in the state. The perception of the potential harm around cannabis is the lowest of all substances, she said.
“Youth don’t believe cannabis is as risky as alcohol, or nicotine and opioids and they’re getting hit with very positive messages that has not yet translated into use, but it could in the future,” she said.
Bieber said adolescence is a time when youths experiment and are curious about these substances, which is why it is important to have a strong community supporting them.
“The more strength you can put in a kid’s life, the less likely they are to use substances,” Bieber said. “If they feel supported in their community, they identify teachers, coaches, etc they get a sense of support from adults in the community. There’s a less likelihood of substance use if they can identify that there are adults in their community that are supportive of them.”