Hard to reach and easy to ignore: The drinking careers of young people not in education, employment or training

Young people’s alcohol consumption, both in the UK and more widely, remains a matter of medical, social, media and political concern. The notion of transition and drinking styles in the move from childhood to adulthood and... [ view full abstract ]

Young people’s alcohol consumption, both in the UK and more widely, remains a matter of medical, social, media and political concern. The notion of transition and drinking styles in the move from childhood to adulthood and education to employment has been central to understanding young people's drinking behaviour but little is known about how the drinking patterns of those not in education or employment both men and women, develop over time. This paper reports on research which aimed to examine the current drinking habits and drinking careers of young people not in education employment and training who are traditionally described as hard to reach. In depth qualitative interviews were undertaken with 23 young people; 15 young women and 8 young men, not in education, employment or training. A focal point of the interview was the use of a graph. This was based on a therapeutic tool used in substance misuse assessment which was adapted by the research team to provide a visual portrayal of the peaks and troughs of usage, and to allow comparisons to be made within and between the cohorts. The findings are presented in respect of three stages of drinking; starting, continuing or increasing, and decreasing or stopping. The conclusions indicate that for the majority of these young people alcohol is a significant factor in their lives and that peers, gender, time and place combine to structure both their current alcohol use and drinking career. The paper argues that an understanding of young people’s drinking career development and current alcohol use will help target effective social work and multi-agency intervention.