UCL study finds binge drinking rises in early 20s
UK cohort data challenges Gen Z sobriety narrative, Self-reports and sampling frames do much of the work
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Alcohol and drug use on the rise among Gen Z, study finds
standard.co.uk
A University College London analysis of nearly 10,000 people born in 2000–2002 finds that 68% of respondents reported binge drinking in the past year at age 23, and 29% said they did so at least monthly. In the same cohort, 49% said they had ever used cannabis and 32% said they had tried drugs such as cocaine, ketamine or ecstasy, according to reporting by the Evening Standard.
The headline implication is that “Gen Z is not quitting alcohol after all.” The more useful point is what the study actually measures: self-reported behaviour in a single birth cohort, surveyed at two ages (17 and 23), and then compared with earlier cohorts at a similar age. That design can capture within-cohort change—regular binge drinking rising from 10% at 17 to 29% at 23 in this sample—but it also bakes in the social context of when and how people are asked. At 17, respondents are more likely to be living with parents, subject to school rules, and underage for purchasing alcohol; at 23, the same people are legally able to buy it and are more exposed to workplace and university social routines.
The study also reports that university attendees had higher rates of frequent binge drinking, while non-university peers were more likely to vape daily and to report gambling problems. That split matters because earlier “young people are drinking less” narratives often leaned heavily on school-based or university-adjacent samples, or on consumption proxies that miss substitution: a fall in alcohol can coexist with a rise in vaping, cannabis, or gambling. If the sampling frame changes—even subtly—apparent generational shifts can be the artefact.
There is also a timing problem. This cohort’s late teens and early 20s straddled the pandemic period, when socialising patterns, mental health services, and enforcement of age-related rules changed abruptly. A survey at 23 is measuring behaviour after several years of disrupted schooling, altered nightlife, and a reshuffled labour market; it is not a clean “generation vs generation” comparison.
The study’s numbers are concrete, but the object they describe is slippery: a particular cohort, answering particular questions, at particular ages, in a particular policy and social environment.
At 23, the same respondents who were asked about drinking and drugs were also asked about vaping and gambling—and those behaviours rose sharply too.