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Gen Z Australians were also found to be consuming significantly less alcohol per week than older generations.
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.
“It’s a really good sign because it’s showing that it’s not just in a certain period of time they’re drinking less, it’s likely that it’s going to persist across their whole lives,” he said.
Di Censo said things could change, and future societal or economic developments could throw the model off course — but for now, “it does seem like this is a permanent shift”.
What’s driving young people away from drinking?
“Gen Z feel as though they can go out and not drink and not seem like an outcast. There’s also a normalisation of abstention and also a prioritisation of health and wellness,” Di Censo said.
Source: SBS News
Michael Livingston is an associate professor of alcohol research at Curtin University’s National Drug Research Institute.
“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.”
“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
Alcohol consumption is linked to a variety of health issues, including multiple forms of cancer, liver and heart disease. According to estimates from the World Health Organization, alcohol consumption contributed to around 2.6 million deaths globally in 2019.
They suggest policies such as minimum alcohol pricing, tighter restrictions on advertising, and targeted health campaigns could help support the downward trend.
Is this happening anywhere else?
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.
