Alcohol-related harms have been decreasing for more recent cohorts of young adults over the past three decades, which is consistent with previously-reported declines in alcohol consumption among this age group

Visontay, Rachel, Louise Mewton, Matthew Sunderland, Katrina Prior, and Tim Slade. 2019. “Declining Alcohol-related Harms in Young Adults: A Cross-temporal Meta-analysis Using the AUDIT.” PsyArXiv. October 30. doi:10.31234/osf.io/829p4

Abstract
Background: Recent studies suggest that alcohol use has been decreasing among both adolescents and young adults. In the current paper, we aim to test whether this trend extends to a decline in the harmful consequences of alcohol use (i.e. alcohol-related harms).
Methods: We systematically searched the literature for articles examining alcohol-related harms and alcohol consumption in adolescent (12-17 years) and young adult (18-24 years) samples using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and AUDIT Alcohol Consumption subscale (AUDIT-C), respectively. Insufficient data was available for AUDIT and AUDIT-C scores in adolescents as well as AUDIT-C scores for young adults. As such, we applied cross-temporal meta-analysis to the extracted data for AUDIT scores in young adults only.
Results: A decrease was found in young adults’ AUDIT scores measured between 1989-2015, representing a .73 standard deviation change over this period. Variance did not change over this time. Interpretation of the study findings is limited by small sample size and the breadth of the AUDIT instrument.
Conclusions: Results indicate that alcohol-related harms have been decreasing for more recent cohorts of young adults over the past three decades, which is consistent with previously-reported declines in alcohol consumption among this age group. Several factors such as delayed initiation to alcohol consumption, greater awareness and understanding of alcohol-related harm, increased digital socialising, and health promotion efforts may be driving these reductions.