fourteen - Alcohol: protecting the young, protecting society

Summary

Introduction

The physical, psychological, social and economic risks of alcohol misuse have received much attention in recent years and the dangers of excessive drinking, especially by young people, have been prominent in policy debate (PMSU, 2004). However, it is recognised that, in a society where most people drink, young people need to learn how to drink without incurring risks to themselves or others. The process includes both cognitive learning about alcohol and its effects and experiential learning about what is appropriate and acceptable in different social contexts.

Awareness of the risks involved in alcohol use and the development of strategies to manage risks mark the transition from childhood to adulthood; risk taking, like alcohol use, is a feature of growing up, which entails experimentation and boundary testing, trial and error. As Honess et al (2000, p vii) have commented, drinking is as much ‘young people’ behaviour as ‘adult’ behaviour and interventions to address risk need to operate within that context.

Thus, alcohol policy faces the challenge of protecting the young from the risks of alcohol misuse without hindering the process of learning to manage alcohol and avoid alcohol-related harm. At the same time, alcohol policy is a complex arena where diverse social groups and stakeholders hold different – and often conflicting – views on alcohol and its uses (Thom, 2005). Policy statements emerge from a sea of contested facts and the interests of the economy or the safety of communities may take precedence over the needs of young people. Indeed, as is the case in recent years, young people's use of alcohol is frequently portrayed as a matter of concern and a threat to society.

This chapter discusses how the protection of children from risk and the control of ‘risky’ youth behaviour have influenced the formation of alcohol policy in two historical periods, at the turn of the 20th century and again at the turn of the 21st century. Although both issues, protection and control, were important at both times (Humphries, 1995), ‘protection’ has been chosen to illustrate policy approaches in the earlier period and ‘control’ for the later period. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a strong emphasis on the protection of children from adult behaviour, including parental use of alcohol and the exposure of children to drink and drinking environments.