Presentation by Cliona Murphy at Bray Drug Awareness Week 2012

1. UNDER THE INFLUENCE
ALCOHOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Cliona Murphy
Alcohol Action Ireland
Bray Drug Awareness Month 2012

2. OVERVIEW
 What’s the harm?
 How much do children drink?
 Where do they get it?
 Parents and alcohol
 Alcohol marketing
 Recommendations

3. CHILDREN & ALCOHOL
WHAT’S THE HARM?
Alcohol has a greater impact on children and young
people as bodies and brains still developing
Alcohol can cause damage to the developing brain
Lifestyle patterns often established in teenage years
Alcohol can damage mental health
Increased harm for girls and young women

4. IMPACT
Negative consequences in the past year reported by
15/16 year olds
 Getting into trouble with the police (22%)
 Not being able to stop drinking (20%)
 Doing something you regretted (48%)
Crime
- Alcohol is a factor up to half all of all youth crimes
- 85% of Garda Youth Diversion Programmes named
alcohol-related crime as first on the list of offences
committed in their area

5. IMPACT
Health
Chronic alcohol-related conditions among young people
becoming increasingly common
 Among 15-34 year olds, rate of alcoholic liver disease
discharges increased 275% between 1995 and 2009
 4,129 under 30 discharged from hospital which chronic
disease or conditions normally seen in older people
between 2005 and 2008

6. HOW MUCH DO CHILDREN DRINK?
ESPAD 2011 surveyed 15–16-year-old students in 36
European countries
Irish students reported that in the 30 days prior to the
survey
 Half (48% boys and 52% girls) had drunk alcohol
 40% had 5+ drinks on a single occasion
 23% had one or more episodes of drunkenness
 9% girls and 13% boys got drunk for the first time
before the age of 13
 Consistent trend for drunkenness when drinking
among Irish students
 Consistent trend for girls drinking as much as boys
and sometimes drinking more

7. WHERE DO THEY GET IT?
84% 15 and 16 year olds said alcohol was ‘very easy’
or ‘fairly easy’ to get compared to 75% in 2007
(ESPAD 2011)
In the 30 days prior to the survey
 26% bought drink from an off-trade outlet
 37% bought from the on-trade
ESPAD 2007
 25% said an older sibling or friend bought it
 16% said their parents gave it to them

8. PARENTS AND ALCOHOL
 Majority of Irish parents do not think it is beneficial
to introduce children to alcohol in the home
 27% said it was a good idea
 63% disagreed
 10% unsure
 Only 11% said they had given their teenager drink
at home
 Giving alcohol to teenagers at home gives a very
mixed message
 Delaying onset of drinking and monitoring your child
are key in preventing substance misuse

9. ALCOHOL MARKETING
 Aim of marketing is to increase shareholder profits
 Alcohol and advertising industries the primary
educators on alcohol and drinking - €2m year on
drink responsibly, €70m year on alcohol
promotion...
 Alcohol and advertising industries largely self-
regulate marketing practices
 What is marketing?
 Price
 Product
 Place
 Promotion

10. ALCOHOL MARKETING
 Increases the likelihood that adolescents will start
to use alcohol and to drink more if already drinking
 Constant exposure to positive, risk free images of
alcohol and its use
 Role in shaping youth culture
 Have We Bottled it Survey
 5 out of 10 favourite ads among 16-21 year olds are for
alcohol
 one in 3 16 to 17-year-olds said they had seen an ad or
pop-up for an alcohol product on their social networking
page (of the 83% with a Facebook page)

11. OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOL BRANDED
MERCHANDISE AMONG 16-21 YEAR OLDS

12. RECOMMENDATIONS
If we are to delay the age at which children start
drinking, action is needed in three key areas
 Monitor the enforcement of legislation regarding
sale and supply of alcohol to children
 Introduce a statutory framework with respect to the
volume, content and placement of alcohol
marketing
 Reduce alcohol consumption at national level