This chart has been floating around, and I find it interesting to speculate about the reason for this shift.
Have attitudes changed this much? Do teens have less independence or fewer places to go to do these things? Are parents more involved in teens’ lives? Was vaping excluded in the study?
As a person who was a high school senior in this time period I just thought those activities were something I personally would not enjoy. Not sure why these rates of teens making healthy choices is treated as a bad thing, but I have always been a bit of a goody-two-shoes who is not susceptible to wanting something more because it is forbidden. Even with the reasons in the comments about signs of things being harder for young people, I think it is still a positive outcome of an otherwise bad situation.
Also relevant: picky eater. Part of why I think I won’t enjoy these things is because I think if I put them in my mouth they’ll taste bad. I stay away from healthy food because of that, why would I make that sacrifice for things actively considered a health hazard (in the case of cigarettes and alcohol)? I’m also just not comfortable with anything messing with my brain that isn’t doctor-prescribed, and I don’t have a medical marijuana prescription. Weed smells bad to me and although sometimes taste and smell aren’t perfect predictors of each other (vanilla extract, anyone?) I think smell is 80% of taste? So I’m further disincentivized. Plus I don’t want to start liking weed and then having to manage the smell, or to like weed enough I don’t care how I smell. I am friends with someone who smokes frequently and their room smells like weed and they do too and it is quite unpleasant to me.
Also relevant: I am adopted and therefore have an unknown family medical history. Am I genetically prone to substance use disorders/addiction? No idea but I do not want to take the chance I’d turn out to be the kind of person who gets addicted to alcohol and runs over a family in a car and ruins my life, but I know my personality and I tend to be very all-or-nothing, grab onto the thing you like hard and very little moderation. Sounds like a bad combination with alcohol. I respect people who do manage to drink responsibly because I probably cannot. Mildly curious as to what kind of drunk I’d be, if I’d be fun, sad, or the alcoholic disaster I fear I’d be, but I’m not going to chance it. Besides, I’m extroverted, so I don’t feel I need it in order to talk to people at a social gathering.
All this holds true now and these were also the reasons I’d probably give you as a high school senior, with the addition of “not breaking the law and risking getting caught, thank you”.