As a parent, talking to your teenagers about drinking and the risks involved is natural.
But the other way around?
It is even rarer for young adults to talk to their parents about drinking, while studies show that older people are drinking more alcohol.
In the past 20 years, the difference between young and older people's drinking has almost completely evened out.
“Important conversation”
In 2024, 17–29-year-olds in Sweden drank approximately 4.4 liters of alcohol per person, while those over 65 drank 4.3 liters. The corresponding figures in 2004 were 6.1 liters for young people and 2.8 liters for older people. The increase is most pronounced among older women. Men still drink more than women, but the difference between the sexes has decreased over time.
Ahead of Easter, Systembolaget has produced the "dads' phrasebook" a handbook that will help young people talk about alcohol with older relatives.
We hope that the phrasebook will become a conversation aid that draws attention to the issue and makes it natural to talk, says Karolina Dahlbeck Nobel, public health expert at Systembolaget.
It can be sensitive to interfere with someone else's habits. But we see that it is important to have the conversation and we hope that this can help young adults to dare to talk to older relatives.
Tips and information
The "dad's phrasebook" contains tips on how as a young adult you can start a conversation about alcohol, but also information about drinking among older people and the risks it entails.
You get a clear understanding of why you need to reflect on your alcohol consumption as an older person. The phrasebook provides helpful background that helps you understand what happens in your body when you drink.
The manual will not be published in physical form, but will be available for download via Systembolaget's website.
We hope that more young adults will dare to have a caring conversation with their older relatives with the help of the phrasebook, says Dahlbeck Nobel.
Enter the conversation with curiosity. Be interested in how your parent thinks.
Conversations often work best when you want to understand, not to convince someone to change.
One tip is to start the conversation with something concrete, preferably outside of yourself, for example, "I have read or heard..."
Listen more than you talk and view it as a conversation, not an argument. It's not about deciding what's right or wrong.
It may be easier to continue the conversation after both of you have had time to think a little. Check in after a few days to see how the initial conversation went.
Source: Dad's Phrasebook
