American adults are drinking less alcohol for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, but one group is bucking the trend. Generation X is drinking more while younger adults cut back sharply, a new national study finds.

The research, led by Dr. Brian P. Lee of Keck Medicine of USC, was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in September 2026. It analyzed responses from more than 114,000 adults in the National Health Interview Survey between 2018 and 2024.

Overall, the share of adults who drank alcohol fell by almost 2 percent between 2022 and 2024. Heavy drinking dropped by more than 8 percent in the same period.

The declines were driven by young people. Drinking among Gen Z adults aged 18 to 29 fell by more than 5 percent. Among millennials aged 30 to 49, heavy drinking dropped by 17 percent. Researchers point to the “sober curious” movement and growing awareness of health risks.

But among adults aged 50 to 64, heavy drinking rose by more than 36 percent from 2018 to 2024. Any alcohol use in that group rose by nearly 4 percent.

Lee called the combination of rising heavy drinking and higher age-related health risks “particularly concerning.”