What's behind Gen Z’s drinking decline?
In recent years, there has been a sharp shift in drinking culture in the UK, as young people are consuming much less alcohol than the generations before them. While drinking less has many positive health and social outcomes, Professor Henry Yeomans’ research shows that it also signifies intense generational anxiety and insecurity around world issues.
In his work alongside Professor Adam Burgess (University of Kent) and Dr Laura Fenton (University of Sheffield), he found that Gen Z’s ‘hyper moderation’ of alcohol consumption can be linked to individualisation, risk management and even the climate crisis.
Impact
- Knowledge discovery: the first qualitative study exploring Gen Z’s declining alcohol consumption in the UK
- Social impact: uncovers links between alcohol, mental health, and world issues such as climate change, with wider implications for young people’s consumer behaviour and attitudes.
Key information
- Major funders: University of Kent
- Partners and collaborators: University of Kent, University of Manchester
- Disciplines: law, social sciences
- Investigators: Professor Henry Yeomans, Professor Adam Burgess, Dr Laura Fenton.
Gen Z is drinking differently
In the UK, the consumption of alcohol has declined among young people, particularly Generation Z (Gen Z). While national datasets depicted the trend, there hadn’t been any qualitative research that explained why drinking was declining amongst this age group before this research project.
In their research, the team held focus groups with young people who considered themselves non-drinkers. These were people who would drink alcohol only occasionally and when they did, they wouldn’t drink enough to become intoxicated. The researchers call this type of drinking behaviour ‘hyper moderation’.
While past generations would negate the risks of intoxication by taking steps to get home safely, such as avoiding confrontation, today’s youth reduce personal risk by drinking much less. Through the groups and surveys, the research team sought to understand in more depth how changing patterns of drinking highlighted a different understanding of risk.
They found that one reason why young people are drinking less is their greater choice of leisure activities and more time to enjoy them. However, for many young people, more choices and time come with a sense of pressure to ‘be productive’ – to perform well academically, in work, or with ‘side hustles’. Less alcohol consumption coincides with negative trends such as worsening mental health and loneliness amongst young adults.
Alcohol, control and climate change
The participants’ feelings of insecurity are exacerbated by wider world issues such as job insecurity, the cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis. They experience and navigate these broad, complex issues on an individual level, which adds to the pressure to maximise their health and productivity.
The researchers explored how, due to individualisation, Gen Z tackle world issues as personal challenges, taking responsibility for them through their individual actions. As well as drinking less, the young people they spoke to frequently avoided smoking, eating dairy and driving polluting vehicles. These actions gave them a sense of control over overwhelming societal challenges.
Professor Burgess said: “Our research was informed by the perspective of individualisation – the duality of freedom and insecurity among young people. Generation Z appears to be a self-conscious generation with significant and open-ended focus upon maintaining their wellbeing and control.”
Professor Yeomans said: “Several of our participants talked about how they feel they are the last generation who will have a realistic chance of doing something about climate change before it is too late. This situation is contributing towards a huge sense of anxiety amongst young people, and, for some, there was a sense that they simply don’t have time for going to the pub or other drinking activities as averting environmental catastrophe must take priority.
“For others, the connection is less direct and drinking little or no alcohol is one manifestation of a more generally restrained attitude towards consumption which is underpinned by anxieties about the environment, amongst other things.”
Changing attitudes towards consumption
The research shows that alcohol consumption is linked to a wide range of attitudes for young people. Although drinking less is positive in terms of health and social outcomes, when explored further, the trend highlights issues around Gen Z’s mental health and their experiences within world crises.
The results have wider implications for young people’s consumer behaviour. It shows that many people are changing their lifestyles in response to public problems like climate change and economic instability – including vegetarianism and driving less – which opens doors for further research in those areas.
Since the study, Professor Yeomans has continued researching the culture and behaviour around alcohol. He is currently investigating the decline in drink-driving in the UK, to understand how and why the issue has improved in recent years.