A 40-year study of teens finds Generation Z is unlike any past generation — here's what they're all about

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Today's teens are in no hurry to grow up, a new study finds.

Contrary to teenagers of past generations, Generation Z — broadly defined as people born between 1995 and the mid-2000s — aren't drinking alcohol, having sex, driving, or going out without their parents nearly as much.

According to psychologists Jean Twenge and Heejung Park, who analyzed 8.3 million responses across seven surveys of teens from 1976 to 2016, today's 18-year-olds act more like 15-year-olds from years past.

The findings largely back up Generation Z as less reckless and more socially isolated than generations prior. Here's what they're all about.

They don't crave the open road.

In the late 1970s, nearly 90% of teens had gotten their driver's license by the 12th grade. By 2014, survey data showed the rate had fallen to roughly 73%.

Twenge and Park's findings suggest this downward trend correlates with many other Gen Z trends, given that driving offers the freedom to date, go to parties, and get to work.

They're not as interested in trying alcohol.

Younger teenagers were more likely to avoid alcohol, according to the study, while older teens showed less of a change. That indicated to Twenge and Park that "recent adolescents try alcohol at older ages than adolescents in past decades," they wrote.

Since 1993, the percentage of eighth-graders who have tried alcohol declined by 59%, compared to a 40% decrease for 10th-graders and 26% for 12th-graders.

Dating is far less frequent.

Since 1976, there have been major declines in 12th-graders saying they go on dates. When the first survey was issued, about 85% of high-school seniors said they go on dates; by 2014, about 58% did.

The internet, while a possible contributing factor, was not ruled the deciding factor since the declines began before large percentages of the population came online, the researchers noted.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider