Glasgow Young Scot Card/Kidz Card
Alcohol Consultation – February - March 2008
Summary
The consultation carried out amongst Glasgow’s young people provides some focus on their attitudes towards alcohol. Of those surveyed only half had actually drunk themselves, but most of their friends did drink. Alcohol appears to be easily accessible to young people and easily affordable, most had never been asked for any proof of age, yet all were under age to purchase alcohol and most bought the alcohol themselves.
It appears licensees need to take more action, not only in terms of selling the alcohol but the majority of young people drink in licensed premises. Many are also drinking in their own home and with as little as 2% of them getting any information on the effects of alcohol from their parents it would appear that educating parents is as important as educating young people. Also 82% indicated that if alcohol was harder to purchase they would most likely drink less.
Background
NHS figures for 2006 /07 show that 428 under 15s in Scotland needed medical treatment because of alcohol a 10% increase on the previous years figures, of those aged 15 – 19 this figure rises to 1,648. Alcohol Misuse amongst adults and young people costs the NHS £1.7 billion per year, and alcohol related crime £7.3 billion a year. Under age drinking continues to hit the headlines particularly the binge drinking culture and the youth disorder associated with drinking such as the 3 Warrington teenagers being sentenced after kicking a father to death whilst under the influence of alcohol. With the average weekly consumption of alcohol doubling amongst teenagers since the 1990s youth providers need to be intervening before young people reach the stages of medical intervention and criminal justice systems.
Aims and Objectives
Glasgow Young Scot Card carried out a consultation with 167 young people aged 11 – 18 year olds to measure young people’s attitudes towards drinking. An online survey, a peer led questionnaire and focus group were used to obtain the feedback received. After the focus group each of the young people who participated in this focus group took away 20 questionnaires to be completed by their school friends thereby hopefully increasing the honesty of the answers.
The consultation was particularly focused on trying get a better understanding of how young people were obtaining the alcohol, particularly as the Glasgow Young Scot Card is an accredited PASS Card (proof of age standards scheme) with 37,000 young people in Glasgow aged 12 – 18 with the Glasgow Young Scot card, and PASS packs being readily available to retailers and licensees, this could be used more effectively to encourage more vigilance amongst those selling alcohol.
The key areas of the consultation covered:
- How they got hold of the alcohol
- How they got the money to purchase alcohol
- Why do they drink
- What were the worst things they had done when being drunk
- How could the be better informed about the effects and dangers of alcohol
|
Age of Participants |
Percentage |
|
11 years old |
1% |
|
12 years old |
16% |
|
13 years old |
16% |
|
14 years old |
13% |
|
15 years old |
28% |
|
16 years old |
8% |
|
17 years old |
4% |
|
18 years old |
14% |
Drinking Alcohol
Of those questioned 50% admitting to drinking alcohol, of those that admitted drinking alcohol, however when asked if their friends drank 74% responded yes. The reasons given for drinking indicated the majority 23% drank because ‘it was fun’, with ‘drinking at parties to be social’ 16% and ‘boredom’ and ‘nothing else to do’ 8% other answers included, enjoying the feeling 9%. Other responses included ‘looking cool’ and ‘peer pressure’, ‘giving confidence’ and for ‘relaxation’.
Of those that admitted drinking alcohol their ages were broken down 40% of 18 year olds, 2% of 17 year olds, 2% of 16 year olds, 32% of 15 year olds, 10% of 14 year olds,12% of 13 year olds and 2% of 12 year olds.
Cost of Alcohol
37% got the money to purchase alcohol from ‘working’, with 41% using the money they received as pocket money from their parents. 8% used their ‘savings’, 3% using their ‘lunch money’ and one participant indicated they had stolen money in the past for alcohol.
30% of the participants felt that alcohol was ‘cheap’, 34% ‘expensive’, 17% felt it depended what you were buying.
Buying Alcohol
The majority of the participants 58% bought the alcohol themselves, 32% getting the alcohol from others.
Of those purchasing alcohol themselves 65% had not been asked to provide proof of age.
Where they drink
29% drink in licensed premises, 26% on their own home and 16% in friends houses. The remaining 29% drinking outside on the streets, in parks, underpasses and in the city centre.
Effects of Alcohol
Of those drinking 30% had been sick and 24% had got into a fight. When asked the worst thing they had done when drunk 4% indicated they had had sexual intercourse, others included crying, embarrassing themselves, getting lost, falling asleep and 2% had been taken to hospital.
Information available to them
75% indicated that they felt they got enough information on the effects and dangers of alcohol. 32% got most of their information from school although felt that more could be provided. Other sources of information 20% from the media, 17% from social networking sites with only 2% from parents.
What can be done?
12% felt that there should be more advertising campaigns on the dangers of alcohol, 20% wanted more information in magazines and on the internet, 9% felt that more police intervention and ID requests would assist, with some other suggestions including putting the dangers of alcohol on the bottles, learning from other young peoples experiences, giving young people more things to do at the weekends and increasing the age limit for purchasing alcohol. However, 14% felt that not much could be done as young people need to make these choices and learn for themselves.
Although more positively 82% responded that if the alcohol was harder to buy they and their friends would drink less.
Conclusion
Currently young people getting access to alcohol appears to be relatively easy and it would appear that a lot of work still needs to be done with licensed premises that are serving and selling alcohol to young people with very little indication that many are checking the ages of young people with most young people never asked for proof of age. Information is getting to young people and many are very aware of the dangers of alcohol, with the growing popularity of social network sites and the internet these are useful mechanisms for continuing to inform and educate young people, as is continuing the work being done in schools. However, more information needs to be made available to parents, particularly as they are the main source of the finances required to purchase alcohol, and if the drinking is taking place in their homes.