The Lancet (hidden away behind their pay per view firewall) are talking about young people’s use of alcohol:
Young people are drinking more alcohol in many societies than ever before. In the UK, Ireland, Denmark, and increasingly Australia, young people drink more alcohol than those in the USA, France, and other Mediterranean countries. The way in which adolescents drink in different countries also varies. Frequency of drinking, regular drunkenness, binge drinking, and being drunk before the age of 13 years, are all indicators of an unhealthy pattern of alcohol misuse that is becoming more common. So, for example, 27% of UK 15-year-olds admit to drinking at least five drinks in a row in the past 30 days compared with 22% in 1995; in girls, as many as 29% binge drink. In the USA, 19% of 15-year-olds binge drink. Accidental death, self-harm, suicide, injury, violent behaviour, unprotected sex, alcohol dependence, and liver disease can all result. Nearly half of the alcohol drunk by these young people comes from the family home. Supermarkets, local shops, off-licences, pubs, and clubs provide the rest.
What they go on to say about what should be done to curb this misuse of alcohol I can’t say, but perhaps they reference the SHARHP research from Australia or the impact of normative education in the United States. Maybe the story mentions the European research which seems to offer some positive outcomes from drug education, or the way that the Strengthening Families Programme has been well evaluated.
Let’s hope so.
Update - The Guardian’s piece on what the Lancet are saying suggests they’ve gone in a different direction:
“The biggest share, and burden, of the partnership must fall on parents and guardians who should take greater responsibility for teaching children about drinking safely. Creating a culture in which alcohol is enjoyed in moderation, perhaps diluted, and is drunk with food as part of sharing a meal together rather than drunk alone, is helpful. For a healthy younger generation, society’s relationship with alcohol has to change, beginning in the home,” the journal said.
The government is due to publish its Youth Alcohol Action Plan later this year, which aims to tackle parental alcohol misuse and improve alcohol education in schools. “Unless the UK government bans alcohol advertising, substantially raises taxes on alcohol, restricts its availability and seriously debates increasing the legal purchasing age to 21, an opportunity will be lost,” the editorial said.
Filed under: alcohol , The Lancet
