Topline
Heavy-drinking adults under 30 are consuming less alcohol compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests, adding to evidence that found Gen Z’s drinking habits have impacted alcohol brands, causing some to shift into no- and low-alcoholic drinks.
Shot of a group of people toasting with their drinks at a nightclub.
Key Facts
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University followed 234 heavy-drinking young adults between the ages of 21 to 29 from February 2018 to March 2022 to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their drinking habits.
During and after the pandemic, participants on average consumed 12.8 fewer alcoholic drinks a month than before the pandemic, and this was mainly due to participants drinking less on the weekends, which decreased by nearly eight drinks per month, according to the study published Thursday in Nature Mental Health.
The researchers also found decreases in alcohol-related problems and negative behaviors, but there were no significant changes in participants using alcohol as a coping mechanism throughout the study period.
The study authors believe the lack of social gatherings during the pandemic are partially responsible for the results, since alcohol was still available to participants, but they drank less since they weren’t going out to bars or parties with friends, and these tendencies carried on after the pandemic.
The study defined heavy drinking as binge drinking on at least four occasions per month (five or more drinks per occasion for men and four or more drinks per occasion for women).
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Crucial Quote
“The pandemic was really hard on a lot of people, but for this group of young adults who were engaging in heavy drinking, the pandemic seems to have had a long-term positive effect,” Kasey Creswell, lead author and associate professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, said in a statement.
Key Background
The “sober curious” lifestyle—which means a person is exploring alcohol abstinence—is growing in popularity among Gen Z and millennials, and the hashtag #sobercurious has over 89,000 videos on TikTok of creators sharing their experience with the movement. Almost 30% of college students in 2018 reported abstaining from alcohol, compared to 20% in 2002, according to a 2020 JAMA Network Open study. Some 62% of adults under the age of 35 say they drink, according to an August 2023 Gallup poll, down from 72% two decades ago. This decline in drinking may have caused a boost in the no- and low-alcohol drink industry, which is expected to grow by 25% between 2022 and 2026, according to data from drinks market analysis firm IWSR. Beer maker Anheuser-Busch said it plans to have alcohol-free or low-alcohol drinks account for 20% of its sales by 2025. Gavin Hattersley, the CEO of Molson Coors—which makes Miller Lite, Coors Lite and Blue Moon—told CNBC the company is investing in nonalcoholic beverages like energy drinks and nonalcoholic beers to keep up with health and wellness trends spearheaded by young adults.
Big Number
$11 billion. That’s how much the market value of the no- and low-alcohol industry was in 2022, according to data from the IWSR.
Surprising Fact
Although overall drinking decreased among the Nature study’s population, solitary drinking increased by 3.8% during the pandemic. Creswell’s previous research has linked solitary drinking with an increased risk of developing alcohol-related problems and found solitary drinking is typically used as a coping mechanism. However, because there wasn’t an increase in drinking to cope within this study, “we think this increase in solitary drinking is less of a signal of something problematic happening and more a result of pandemic-related restrictions on social drinking settings,” Creswell said.
Tangent
Trends like Dry January and Sober October, which involve drinking no alcohol for a month, have gained popularity over the years. Although Dry January was started in the U.K., millions of Americans participate each year. Some 35% of American adults participated in the challenge in 2022, compared to 21% in 2019, according to data from international data and insight agency CGA Strategy. TikTok is a popular social media platform among Gen Z, and it’s estimated over 60% of the generation uses the app. The hashtag #dryjanuary had 381.5 millions on TikTok in January—TikTok removed hashtag views in earlier this year—and the hashtag #sobercurious had over 805 million views.
