It includes papers from scientific journals classified as either original, clinical or experimental research, review articles or case reports. Some people choose to avoid alcohol because they depended on it in the past, and now they’re in recovery. It’s necessary for a recovering alcoholic to avoid alcohol, even if it means staying out of bars and pubs. The temperance movement still exists in many parts of the world but has less political influence than in the 19th and 20th centuries.

What Is a Teetotaler? 9 Facts of the Teetotaler Definition

He argued that the only true path to a life of wild excitement was total abstinence from alcohol. Contemporary and colloquial usage has somewhat expanded teetotalism to include strict abstinence from most “recreational” intoxicants (legal and illegal). Most teetotaler organizations also demand from their members that they do not promote or produce alcoholic intoxicants. The temperance movement is a social effort that opposes the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Studies in the late 2010s indicated a decline in youth drinking in Western countries, with more than one-fourth of English youth in their mid-teens to mid-20s and nearly three-tenths of college-age Americans claiming total abstinence.

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• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), founded in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, developed as a fellowship group for alcoholics seeking recovery through total abstinence.
• They can include health and medical concerns, family or social influences, philosophical or political ideologies, past alcoholism, and religious beliefs.
• The society was dedicated to promoting a life of sobriety, but Turner believed they didn’t go far enough.
• Proponents of teetotalism often promote the social, physical, and mental benefits of not consuming alcoholic beverages, encouraging others to adopt a similar lifestyle for various reasons, including personal health, religious beliefs, and societal impacts.
• It’s formulated as a training rule assumed voluntarily rather than a commandment.

A common American term is “on the (water) wagon”, which frequently means those who have had a problem with alcohol, as well as the terms “dry” and “sober”. “Straight edge” is a newer idiom for abstaining from alcohol and other intoxicants, although it is more common in connection with hardcore punk culture. “Temperance” was a more popular term in the 1800s and early 1900s when temperance unions throughout the US battled consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Discuss these teetotaler definitions with the community:

At restaurants, teetotalers either abstain from drinking or only drink non-alcoholic beverages. It might include water, juice, coffee, tea, non-alcoholic soft drinks, define teetotalism mocktails, and non-alcoholic beer. By 1836, when the American national temperance convention formally endorsed total abstinence, many temperance societies had switched from promoting moderation to advocating for abstinence.

Religious Acceptance

Teetotalers in the 19th century who belonged to temperance societies typically signed a pledge promising to abstain from alcohol. An alternate explanation is that teetotal is simply a reduplication of the ‘T’ in total (T-total). In this context, the word is still used, predominantly in the southern United States. If not, you might be faced with the decision about whether to join the list of teetotalers for your own benefit. Whether in a public setting, such as a restaurant or party, or spending an evening at home, teetotalers choose to refrain from drinking alcohol.

They recruited other people in their community, even non-alcoholics, and held regular meetings in which they shared their experiences with drinking and sobriety. Over time, the Washingtonians attracted as many as 600,000 members, with chapters throughout the United States. Notably, they welcomed many groups that other temperance societies excluded, including Roman Catholics and Black Americans.

By contrast, Methodist Churches use “pure, unfermented juices of the grape” in their tradition of the Eucharist. All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.

• The decision to abstain from alcohol provides benefits for the people who choose to do so.
• Certain people stop drinking because they want to improve their physical and mental health.
• This section includes scientific research in the field of healthcare, often involving traditional medicine systems such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Holistic health.
• A more contemporary example of this is the current Vice President of the United States Joe Biden who abstains from alcohol, citing his own family’s history of alcoholism.
• Teetotalism (sometimes tee-totalism) refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages.
• It’s necessary for a recovering alcoholic to avoid alcohol, even if it means staying out of bars and pubs.

Informal annual events such as “Dry January” or “Sober October” also encourage participants to abstain from alcohol and promote their abstinence on social media. His wife acquired the nickname “Lemonade Lucy” because of her practice of serving guests non-alcoholic beverages while entertaining in the White House. A more contemporary example of this is the current Vice President of the United States Joe Biden who abstains from alcohol, citing his own family’s history of alcoholism. Participants in the movement criticize alcohol intoxication and promote the benefits of teetotalism. The movement’s leaders emphasize alcohol’s impacts on family life, health, and people’s personalities. Numerous Christian denominations forbid the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

The word could also be confused as a fusion of the words tea, a common non-alcoholic beverage, and total, albeit with the spelling changed slightly (Tea-total) — but this is not widely believed. “Khamr” is the word for all intoxicants that Islam prohibits, and Hinduism and Sikhism also require abstinence from alcohol. Teetotaler organizations usually demand that their members not produce or promote alcoholic beverages as part of their commitment. An American source first recorded the word “teetotal” in a general sense in 1832.

Although the temperance movement died out in the United States in the early 20th century with the failure of Prohibition, alcohol abstinence was the foundation for a new movement focused on recovery from addiction. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), founded in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, developed as a fellowship group for alcoholics seeking recovery through total abstinence. The basis of AA was the Twelve Steps program, which outlines the group’s principles and methods for recovery.