Alcohol and Young People

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Alcohol and Young People

• Michael Shiner
• Department of Social Policy
• London School of Economics

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Youth in context

• The central problem of adolescence
• Separate and oppositional?
• The wider parent culture
• The political economy of leisure

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Characteristics of youth drinking

• Public settings
• Geared towards excess
• Lifestyle of hedonistic consumption
• The night-time economy

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Estimated Alcohol Consumption in UK (litres of
pure alcohol per head among those gt 14 years)
Source IAS Factsheet http//www.ias.org.uk/resou
rces/factsheets/drinkinggb.pdf
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Mean alcohol consumption of pupils who had drunk
in the last seven days by age - boys
Source Smoking, drinking and drug use among
young people in England in 2006
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Mean alcohol consumption of pupils who had drunk
in the last seven days by age - girls
Source Smoking, drinking and drug use among
young people in England in 2006
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Proportion of pupils who drank in the last week
by age
Source Smoking, drinking and drug use among
young people in England in 2006
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Percentage of adults who drank more than twice
recommended limits at least once in last week
Source General Household Survey, 2005
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Subterannean playJock Young (1971)

• Delinquency is rooted in widely held subterranean
  values e.g. excitement, adventure and thrill
  seeking
• Subterranean values are subsumed under ethos of
  productivity
• Alcohol and drugs can be used as a vehicle to the
  world of subterranean values
• Privileged position of youth

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The post industrial transformation

• Late modernity has been tipped towards the
  subterranean world of leisure
• The cultural revolution and the new individualism
• Collapse of manufacturing and the growing
  economic importance of leisure
• Regeneration and the night time economy
• Price of alcohol

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Policy implications Managing the transition to
independent drinking

• Economic interests v public health
• Responsive regulation
• Situational and social prevention
• Safer drinking environments
• Social learning