Alcohol Trends Among Youth In Europe

Authorities in Europe are concerned that alcohol use by young people is becoming increasingly harmful. More than 55,000 people aged 15-29 across Europe die each year as a result of alcohol-related road accidents, poisoning, suicide and murders, according to the World Health Organization.

The pattern of "normalization" or "banalization" of drug use that has taken place over the past few years also seems to be influencing attitudes and consumption patterns of alcoholic beverages by young people. While each country and community is different, there is a general European trend toward wider tolerance, and even approval, among young people for intoxication. For example, in the UK a worrying number of young people binge drink -- 37 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women aged 16 to 24 regularly drink twice the recommended daily limits.

Some observers think the more relaxed attitude toward drinking alcohol and drinking to intoxication are being fed by the values of international youth pop culture with some young people using alcohol to pursue a "buzz". Some believe the changes are being fueled by the alcohol industry (also international) that is generally less regulated and more aggressive with marketing than ever before. It is pretty clear, for example, that the alcohol industry began to market a range of "designer" or "fashion" drinks for youth in the 1990s targeted to the dance club scene to combat the trend of club drug use, like ecstasy, replacing drinking. There is no question that the alcohol industry understands the importance of brand image to many young people and spends many dollars to create images that are attractive to them. The introduction of "alcopops", low alcohol beverages that came to Europe in the mid-90s, raised concerns that children were being groomed for a drinking culture. However, it is unclear whether that actually occurred.

In the past, drinking by youth tended to follow overall patterns in particular countries. For example, in Northern European countries where the overall percentage of drinkers is lower than in the south, drinking was less frequent among young people, but drinking to intoxication was more common. On the other hand, in Southern Europe, a greater percentage of adults and youth drank but tended not to drink to intoxication. While this pattern still holds, the trend toward binge drinking and intoxication is even being seen in Southern European countries where the cultures have historically frowned on drinking in that way. Along with changes in drinking styles in these countries, there is a shift from wine to beer as the beverage of choice. Boys tend to drink more than girls, but the gender gap has generally narrowed.
As part of this trend, there appear to be fewer occasions where older and younger people drink together. In the context of youth culture, drinking and getting drunk are group activities rather than individual activities. Drinking is often viewed as a "time out" from the normal rules where it is expected that people will behave differently.

Responses:

A variety of policy measures are being recommended to deal with this trend, like increasing alcohol taxes, raising the legal purchase age, regulating the marketing of alcoholic beverages and regulating drinking establishments away from environments that encourage violence. It remains to be seen how successful any attempt to regulate the media, the alcohol industry and those serving alcohol will be in this era of free markets.

For those involved in community prevention programmes, it is more important than ever to treat all substances together. The weaving of alcohol into youth pop culture and its use as one of many available options for getting intoxicated is blurring the lines between alcohol and illegal drugs. It may be that measures that are effective in reducing use of one kind of substance may well result in increased use of another. Also, when young people are mostly interested in getting drunk, it raises questions about the most appropriate message -- are messages urging young people not to drink or to drink moderately likely to be effective?

References:

	Youth and alcohol in Europe, The Globe, International alcohol and drug problems. Institute of Alcohol Studies, UK 2001.
	Drinking and heavy drinking by students in 18 countries. Smart, R and Ogborne, A. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 60, 2000. pp 315-318.
	Britain's Ruin - Alcohol problems cost Britain ?3 billion. Report by Alcohol Concerns. UK 2000.
	Alcohol named Europe's youth killer, CNN.com/health. February 20, 2001.