The joys and disasters of the festive season often involve alcohol.

A good port with your Christmas pudding that has been flame-fired in brandy can leave a warm glow, while too many sauv blancs at the office party and propositioning the boss might be a highlight best forgotten.

But would Christmas and life in general be more fun if you didn’t drink at all?

We thought we’d compare the lives and attitudes of drinkers and non-drinkers, and then look at their media consumption habits, which make interesting reading for those in alcohol marketing.

The alcohol marketing category is big business for media, of course. Emma data shows that regular drinkers live varied and active lives, while teetotallers are more withdrawn socially. This would explain why alcohol brands are so often associated with sports events and cultural gatherings, and why many leverage the large print and digital audiences of newspaper publishers.

Newspapers rate No.1 for heavy media consumption in both regular beer drinkers and regular wine drinkers, indexing higher than any other media in comparison to all people.

Who’s who among drinkers and teetotallers?

One label for non-drinkers is teetotallers, which originated from a speech made by a stutterer at the Preston Temperance Society in 1833, advocating “t-t-total abstinence”. What type of people are teetotal?

In Australia, some 85% of men and women are either occasional drinkers, or drink once or more every week. A regular drink is enjoyed by 52%, which aligns with data from the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey. Some 15% say they are teetotal.

Regular drinkers are more likely to be male (57%), whereas teetotallers are more likely to be female (59%). This lower number might be quite a good thing as women and men process alcohol differently and women are actually at higher risk from alcohol problems.

The numbers for regular drinkers, however, even up in the 25-54 age group. The big difference is made in the post-65 group, where men are 32% more likely to be regular drinkers than women, which might be a reflection on the generation in which they were brought up, or a determined preventative approach to health by women.

More significant gaps in the data appear when comparing social demography.

Drinkers are heavily featured in the socioeconomic group A, where 77% are more likely to imbibe on a regular basis than those in the DE group. Among those who are married, 55% are more likely to reach for a beer or the bottle than those who have never married.

Four differences in the lives and attitudes of drinkers and teetotallers.

1. Drinkers are more extrovert

Attitudinally, emma data indicates drinkers tend to be more extrovert and teetotallers more quiet and introvert.

Teetotallers say their weekends are full of chores, and it’s been too long since they went on holiday. These are possibly due to socioeconomic status or their quieter social lives, rather than a direct result of alcohol consumption.

Further, drinkers tend to be more critical of others, quicker to find fault, and have a richer vocabulary – which explains why we often hear such colourful swear words from the mouths of the inebriated.

2. Drinkers are doers

Drinkers do more of nearly everything that emma measures. They are more likely to go to pubs, nightclubs and entertainment districts, and they love their sport, too. They play or attend matches. Among their other popular interests are opera and theatre, and even yoga and gardening – though hopefully not while they’re drunk.

Teetotallers are more content with the quiet life. Generally, they do less but, according to the emma data, they feel burdened by housework, which they say they do a lot.

A clear correlation exists between socialising, drinking and active lifestyles, which may explain our surprising third difference…

3. Drinkers feel healthier (!)

Despite alcohol having proven negative impacts when drunk in excess, drinkers report fewer ailments than teetotallers. Of the 20 types of pain emma tracks, the only 2 things that regular drinkers suffer from more than their non-drinking counterparts are muscle aches, and . . . hangovers. The beer drinkers say they get the worst hangovers – 17% of beer drinkers and only 10% of wine drinkers admit to a hangover in the last 4 weeks.

Academic research on the effects of drinking shows people who drink moderately, and even those who drink heavily, have longer lifespans than teetotallers. Possible explanations are the chemical effects of alcohol, and intriguingly, the social effects of alcohol – people who drink have busier social lives, which can give you a longer lifespan.

Their health may also be correlated with the more active lifestyles we discovered above. Perhaps teetotallers, being introverts, are more aware of their ailments.

4. Drinkers are frequent and engaged news readers

Alcohol marketing relies on newspapers to drive sales. There are many creative examples of this, here is one of my favourites: Angostura mixer takes tactical approach

Print rates No.1 for heavy media consumption in both regular beer drinkers and regular wine drinkers, indexing higher than any other media in comparison to all people.

This liking for news extends to the various digital formats too, with tablet users of major metro newspapers indexing 116 against regular drinkers, and mobile users indexing 113.

Summary

emma data reveals that regular drinkers are somewhat more engaged with the world – they do more, are more extrovert and social, and feel healthier. They read a lot of news in print but also consume journalism on smartphones and tablets.

And they’re prone to a bit of verbal sledging with colourful vocabulary – so don’t come the raw prawn with them, or you might get the rough end of the pineapple this Christmas.