Australia is more than a week into Dry July, with $3 million already raised for people affected by cancer as of Saturday.

And younger Australians might be finding the alcohol-free month easier than their parents.

Alcohol consumption by people aged 14 –17 steadily declined between 2001 and 2016, with plateaus and slight rises and dips in more recent years, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data shows.

A Cancer Council report had similar findings, with 72 per cent of secondary students admitting to drinking alcohol in the past year in 1996, a figure which dropped to 43.7 per cent in 2022/23.

Amy Pennay, deputy director at La Trobe University Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, told The New Daily the trend towards lighter drinking habits meant today’s young adults have less of an appetite for alcohol than the generations before them.

Young Australians may be happy to say no to a drink, but older Australians are struggling to do the same.

Although AIHW found risky drinking among young people has declined and plateaued over the last two decades, risky drinking rose for Australians aged 30–39 and 60–69 in the 2022/23 period.

“We know that the more you drink as an underage person, the more likely you are to be a heavy drinker later,” Pennay said.

Less alcohol on the path to adulthood

There are range of factors behind younger Australians’ increased willingness to put down a glass.

Pennay said the last couple of decades have seen changes in parenting trends, from closer surveillance of children to closer parent-child relationships.

“When I was young, we went out and we said to mum, ‘See you tomorrow,’ or whatever, but that’s not the case anymore,” she said.

“[Children are] getting driven places, they’re being contacted while they’re there.

“Also, parents and children are reporting closer relationships, so we’re talking about things more in an open and honest way.”

Young Australians also seem to have a stronger focus on the future, and want to avoid any potential derailments.

This means replacing some nights out with studying and job searching, and keeping their social media footprint employer-friendly, Pennay said.

Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) CEO Caterina Giorgi said young people’s lower alcohol consumption is part of a larger trend away from other risky behaviours, including drugs and unsafe sex.

This is particularly positive for overall health, with excessive alcohol consumption strongly linked to cancers, chronic diseases and short-term harms such as alcohol poisoning and assault – links which young Australians are also more educated about than the people that came before them.

“They’re saying things like, ‘I just don’t know why you would get so drunk that you don’t know where you are,'” she said.

“All of these types of behaviours that were very normalised 20 years ago, are not normalised among young people now.”

But there are smaller divergences that contrast against the overall trend away from over-drinking.

AIHW found the proportion of young girls drinking alcohol increased since 2016, mirroring similarly disproportionate increases in other risky behaviours among young females.

For the downward spiral of excessive drinking to continue, Giorgi said there needs to be increased focus on creating social environments apart from “heavily subsidised” operations that revolve around alcohol sales.

“We’re seeing governments invest in lots of different festivals and strategies, which is great,” Giorgi said.

“And they’re starting to really think about … environments where museums are open late, or where there are different festival atmospheres.”