How an Integral Aspect of Australian Culture Might Transform Permanently

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A recent study reveals that Gen Z is distancing itself from alcohol much more than older generations, a shift that could lead to significant public health benefits and potentially transform the nation’s ingrained drinking culture.

Researchers at Flinders University studied 23 years’ worth of data to understand and model drinking behaviors among five generational cohorts: the silent generation, baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z.

The study showed that Gen Z individuals are 18 times more likely to refrain from alcohol throughout their lives compared to baby boomers.

In addition, Gen Z Australians are consuming far less alcohol weekly than their older counterparts.

Source: SBS News

Lead author Gianluca Di Censo, a research fellow at the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), told SBS News the first-of-its-kind study in Australia also assessed whether the trend would have a lasting impact.

“This is a promising trend as it indicates that reduced alcohol consumption isn’t just temporary; it is likely to continue throughout Gen Z’s lifetime,” a researcher noted.

Millennials are also drinking less than the generations before them, and along with gen Z, are projected to abstain from drinking at much higher rates throughout their lives than the two oldest generations.

However, Di Censo cautioned that unexpected societal or economic changes could alter this trajectory, but currently, “this appears to be a lasting change.”

What’s driving young people away from drinking?

While the study doesn’t determine that, researchers suspect a number of factors are shaping this pattern.

These factors include the high cost of living, increased use of digital devices, rising consumption of health-related media, and a “cultural shift towards denormalising alcohol consumption”.

“Gen Z feels they can socialize without drinking or being marginalized, and there’s a growing acceptance of sobriety alongside an emphasis on health and well-being,” Di Censo added.

Source: SBS News

Michael Livingston is an associate professor of alcohol research at Curtin University’s National Drug Research Institute.

He told SBS News there’s a “complex social pattern” at play, including a “fundamental shift” in how young people interact, given how they spend so much time online, changes in parenting and more awareness of the health risks around alcohol.

“Young people are much more risk-averse now than they were 20 years ago,” he said, pointing to research in other fields that shows declines in other risk-seeking acts among teens, such as those linked to road accidents, sexual behaviour and crime.

“Those risk-taking behaviours that used to be kind of a fundamental part of that transition into adulthood, they’re not as prominent as they were.”

Other studies have found young people are more likely to have existential worries about the future, including climate anxiety and financial concerns.

While a reduction in drinking is a public health win, Livingston said there are concerns that mental ill-health and anxiety are also on the rise in younger groups.

“One of the reasons people are drinking less is because they’re worrying more, and that’s obviously not a good outcome,” he said.

The implications of a cultural shift

The study’s co-author, Kirrily Thompson from NCETA, said: “For decades, alcohol has been deeply embedded in social life, but that’s changing.”

“Younger Australians are redefining what it means to socialise and celebrate, and they’re doing it with less alcohol,” she said. “That’s something we should be paying attention to, not just as researchers, but as a society.”

Alcohol use is associated with various health problems, including several cancers, liver, and heart diseases. The World Health Organization estimated that alcohol use led to approximately 2.6 million deaths worldwide in 2019.

The study’s authors believe understanding the drivers of generational trends could help inform public health strategies.

They propose that strategies such as minimum alcohol pricing, stricter advertising regulations, and focused health initiatives could reinforce this declining trend.

Is this happening anywhere else?

Changing habits around drinking among Australians have been well documented.

Back in 2001, 70 per cent of young people in Australia, aged between 14 and 17, said they had consumed alcohol in the past 12 months, according to the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. But that figure has dropped to about 30 per cent in recent years.

Source: SBS News

A similar trend exists across a number of high-income countries, including New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and European countries like Sweden.

Livingston said it’s a common pattern across many countries, “with similar historic drinking cultures” to Australia.