A 2019 survey shows rangatahi are choosing to drink less alcohol - or not at all - but there are still concerns around the binge drinking culture in Aotearoa. 

Re: spoke to Alcohol Health Watch and rangatahi to understand more. 

Drinking alcohol is not as appealing to young people anymore for several reasons.

Gen Z are well-connected and informed, and many are already well aware of the health and behavioural risks involved with getting lit. 

Since 2001, four surveys by Alcohol Health Watch and Youth2000 have collected data on youth attitudes towards drinking alcohol. 

Alcohol Health Watch Executive Director Dr Nicki Jackson says the most recent survey shows more young people are choosing not to drink.

“What we know, amongst Gen Z, is that there's an increased focus on physical and mental health,” Nicki says. 

“Obviously, alcohol has huge impacts on both; it's a cause of over 200 health conditions, including things like poor mental health, and it's implicated in our suicide statistics. 

“That is going hand-in-hand with a change in attitudes around drinking. So we're getting fewer students in these surveys reporting that it's okay to drink reasonably,” she says.

And this isn't just happening in New Zealand - Nicki says this trend is found among rangatahi across many countries like Australia, the UK, and Canada.

“Young people are becoming more aware of the risks around alcohol. So certainly, that is playing a role and the biggest changes we've seen in non-drinking in Aotearoa is our younger students under 16 years old,” Nicki says.

“They're becoming more conscious of their health, both their physical and mental health.”

But the concern for students 16 years and over remains high, especially once they’ve turned 18 and enter the heaviest drinking group in New Zealand. 

“There's some good news in this, that the younger students are choosing to take up drinking later in life, and they’re drinking on fewer occasions, which is good. But when they become drinkers, the dominant style of drinking is very much this binge drinking fashion,” Nicki says. 

She says one of the greatest concerns for Alcohol Health Watch is the largely unchanged environment in which alcohol advertising targets young people. 

“It still very much promotes heavy drinking … we’re also really concerned about youth access to online alcohol sales that have just exacerbated during the pandemic,” she says.

Alcohol in education

The Life Education Trust has been running a programme called SMASHED in Aotearoa’s schools since 2019, talking about the dangers of underage drinking.

The programme is funded by The Tomorrow Project, a joint social responsibility initiative launched in 2012 by New Zealand Winegrowers, the New Zealand Brewers Association, and the Distilled Spirits Association of New Zealand.

Some, including Alcohol Health Watch, don’t approve of such a programme being funded by New Zealand’s alcohol industry.

However, Life Education Trust chief executive John O’Connell says The Tomorrow Project has no input into the SMASHED programme’s content.

“They wouldn’t know what’s in it, where it’s been delivered, or anything,” he says.

“[Life Education Trust] runs it, we develop the content, and have continued to evolve that based on feedback.

“Does the alcohol industry have any involvement in the activity of the programme or its messages? The answer is no. Is [the programme] then independently evaluated against the Ministry of Education guidelines and best practice for providing programmes like these in schools? The answer is yes.”

The pressure to drink

The culture of binge drinking in Aotearoa goes hand-in-hand with peer pressure. 

Twenty-four-year-old marketing coordinator Tiffany is currently travelling around Europe and says there is a noticeable difference in the drinking culture in Aotearoa compared to around the world. 

“The difference between home and the drinking culture that I've seen overseas is that there's a lot of pressure to drink [in Aotearoa] and also a lack of alternative options,” she says.

Tiffany often chooses not to drink or will go for low-alcohol or no-alcohol options. She says everyone has a different reason for choosing not to drink.

“I've always been someone who drinks a very low amount of alcohol, which is unusual as I’m someone who loves to go out and go to raves. But as I am Asian, we have this thing called Asian flush.”

‘Asian flush’ is when people with East Asian heritage experience facial flushing while drinking alcohol. It has been linked to a deficiency in an enzyme that helps break down alcohol. 

“So for me personally, what that means is not only do I get flushed, but I get very, very drunk very, very quickly. That makes a night of drinking unsustainable for me,” Tiffany says.

She says people generally respect her decision.

“A lot of people in my friend group actually refuse to drink, but it's more for religious reasons rather than my kind of reason. Most of my friends do drink but they are respectful of my decision not to drink,” Tiffany says.

She says people shouldn’t drink if they don't want to.

“You don't have to explain to anybody why you don't want to drink and don't ask people their reasons for it. 

“It could be religious, it could be that they're on medication, it could be that they're pregnant or it could be that they just can't tolerate alcohol, like me.”

A shift in attitudes

Students living in university halls have been known to frequently enjoy a night in town, sometimes multiple nights a week, but those attitudes also appear to be changing. 

Bryant Hall is one of the student accommodation blocks at the University of Waikato in Kirikiriroa. 

Resident Advisor Anipātene Williams says that while some of her residents choose to drink, it is not as often as she has heard of before.

“I grew up hearing that once you get to uni, you make your uni timetable work around going out and drinking as many nights as you can,” the 20-year-old says.

“That’s not so common now; I see students going out, but they will most likely save it for one night per week, like on a Friday or Saturday.

“I think that’s a flex for Gen Z compared to previous generations,” Anipātene says.

Correction (3/11/2022): Re: News incorrectly reported the alcohol industry runs programmes in New Zealand’s schools warning of the dangers of underage drinking. While the Smashed programme is funded by the alcohol industry, it is run by the Life Education Trust. The Trust says the alcohol industry has no involvement in the activity of the programme or its messages. 

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