A new study published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation examines the lives of young people in relation to alcohol across 2 major regions in England.
Download 'Local variations in youth drinking cultures' or the summary report.
Key findings from the report include:- the north has a higher degree of reported indicators of alcohol-related harms than the south-east and the south-west, but despite this young people’s drinking behaviour in these areas followed similar patterns;
- young people rarely drank on their own;
- young people actively sought out clusters of youth-orientated bars, and sometimes these clusters encouraged young people to drink more than they intended;
- planning authorities had often been unable to resist commercial pressures to allow clubs and bars to fill units that would otherwise be vacant, despite a wish to limit the number of licensed premises.
The study, conducted by Westminster University, shows that the "Big Night Out" remains a common activity for young people both in the North and South. Young people report that they like to plan a night out where sociability is the prime motive. This they view as key to a successful night of laughter and fun, often including some element of spontaneity.
Drinking on the "Big Night Out" tends to happen in a cluster of youth-orientated bars. This factor may also encourage drinking beyond limits intended by the young people at the beginning of the evening. The idea of limiting the amount of licensed premises in any area does not seem to have come to fruition, largely because of commercial pressures.
Interestingly, despite alcohol use being a distinctly social activity, there seems little evidence of "peer pressure" to drink excessively in any of the regions studied.
However, there is likely to be more "pre-loading" activity in the North east. Generally in the North there are more instances of young people and adults drinking alongside one another, with high visibility of adult drinking. In the South, there is more likely to be drinking inside (at parties and social events) than in the North, where drinking occurs both inside and outside.
This report follows publication of research on young people who choose to drink little or no alcohol. Further alcohol-related reports and guidance related to children and young people can be found here on the Alcohol Learning Centre, including the CMO guidance or see the Drinkaware web-page for parents. See here a post on IBA for young people.
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