WHILE baby boomers may be parsing the evidence to see if an evening glass of wine could be good for them, young adults are quietly turning away from alcohol. Sure, a hardcore still binge heavily, but more and more are choosing to be teetotal, and those who do drink are, on average, doing less of it.
That has public health experts toasting their good luck. If this lifestyle takes hold, there could be many health benefits, from fewer accidents and less alcohol-fuelled violence, to reduced incidences of cancer and liver and heart disease in decades to come. So what is spurring young people to shun alcohol, and will it continue?
The move away from booze was first seen in those born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, the generation known as millennials. The post-millennials (or generation Z) are .
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This is in spite of the fact that alcohol is broadly than it has been in decades. Indulging in drunkenness from early adulthood – once a – is in decline across many developed countries. In the UK in 2002, roughly . By 2014, that was down to less than half.
But two-thirds of people aged 45 to 64 still drink regularly, according to the UK Office for National Statistics. In fact, as of 2014, men aged 65 to 74 were more likely than any other age group to drink more than 21 units of alcohol a week – about 10 pints of beer – the advised upper limit at the time. That limit has since been dropped to 14 units – about six pints.
In the US, alcohol intake has been since hitting a peak in 1997. It’s , especially among those born between 1995 and 1999.
“A significant generational shift is under way,” says James Nicholls of Alcohol Research UK. Surveys indicate that this is widespread, not the result of a few teetotallers skewing the stats. Not only are more of these age groups saying they are teetotal but people who do drink are . “It is clear it is not just a flash in the pan,” says Robin Room, who studies alcohol policy at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Just saying no
Why are younger people drinking less? It’s impossible to ignore the role of new . Millennials in many places are loaded with student debt, have faced recessions, are living in an era of greater job insecurity, widening income inequality and also rising housing costs.
Additionally, for them, socialising no longer requires meeting in a pub or bar. They can group chat from bedrooms via laptops, tablets and smartphones. “When you are communicating with your friends online, you’re not usually standing around at somebody’s house party drinking alcohol,” says psychologist at San Diego State University in California, who wrote a book on millennial culture, .
These trends are picking up steam with the generation born in 1995 and after. Under-age drinking in the UK is declining in a way that mirrors the young adult trend (see “None for me”). In Australia, the most dramatic recent declines are in 13 and 14-year-olds.
The fact that smartphones have cameras may also inhibit alcohol use because people fear appearing drunk in photos posted online for all to see. Beer-maker Heineken in a report in January. It concluded that “self-awareness and staying in control” are the main motivations for reduced drinking on a night out for millennials.
Another factor is the increasingly cosmopolitan nature of Western populations, as they incorporate newcomers from cultures where drinking is less common. London not only has the most diverse population in the UK, but at , the highest concentration of people who are teetotal.
Then there is the idea of a backlash to the excesses of your elders. This has been dubbed the Ab Fab or theory in reference to the straight-laced daughter of a hard-drinking character in UK comedy Absolutely Fabulous. Drinking by the baby boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964, and their successors in generation X, the last of whom were born in 1980, has either risen or remained high in recent decades. Younger generations bucking such trends would be the reverse of 1960s counter culture, when those coming of age rebelled against the straight-laced ways of their parents.
Other possible factors are that public health messages have become more effective, a clampdown on under-age sales stopped bad habits setting in, and attitudes about alcohol among parents have shifted. In 2004, 27 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds said their parents provided them with alcohol. By 2014, that was .
No rolling over
It’s likely that all of these elements contribute to some extent, but it’s hard to pin down which are most important. That’s a problem for public health officials, because a better understanding could help guide strategies to ensure the trend endures. When you look at the illness, death and crime attributed to alcohol consumption, the payoff for maintaining it at a low level is potentially huge in terms of lives and money saved and pressures eased on healthcare systems.
But the industry won’t just roll over. It and that reach millions. Alcohol advertising may not be winning over millennials at the moment, but its influence shouldn’t be underestimated. In the UK, spending on alcohol advertising rose from £150 million to £250 million annually between 1989 and 2000. Over the same period, weekly alcohol consumption by people aged 11 to 15 years rose in a correlated manner, even if they weren’t the target audience.
“1 in 6 The proportion of people around the world who regularly binge drink”
Can public health experts stop the industry upending the decline? “If you raise the price of alcohol, with a minimum unit price for example, you can gently discourage more drinking,” says Room. In Scotland, politicians are attempting to do just that. In 2012 they agreed a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol – what amounts to a minimum price of £1 for a 500ml can of beer, or £14 for a bottle of spirits. Wine and whisky industry groups promptly challenged this, but in October, the minimum price was upheld by Scotland’s highest court. The drinks groups are expected to appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court.
Alison Douglas from the charity Alcohol Focus Scotland sees shades of tobacco industry tactics. “The health of the people must come before the profits of big business,” she says.
Much is at stake. Substantial health gains of the younger, drier generations are unlikely to show themselves for a few years because of the long-term nature of chronic illness linked to alcohol, but no one doubts they will emerge. “If consumption starts to rise again this could be undone,” says Nicholls.
But Twenge is optimistic that moderate drinking is here to stay. “If you think about the causes here I don’t think any of them are going away,” she says.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Generation clean”
