Research type 
Desk research
Qualitative
Quantitative
Region 
Local
Year of report 
2007

Summary of findings

 

 

·  A large proportion of underage teenagers drink more than once a week. Young people are able to access alcohol quite freely and many of them drink unsupervised on the streets rather than indoors, which not only places them at increased risk of alcohol-related harm and environmental danger, but also contributes to residents’ fear of crime. ‘Teenagers hanging around streets’, often drinking or having drunk alcohol, is a key concern for local residents, and alcohol related incidents and crimes are on the rise. The behavioural challenge is thus to reduce kerbside drinking in under-18s.

· Possible primary target audience include:

- Underage street drinkers/clients within the Childsafe programme

- 11-14/15 year olds

- Both genders

- White European/British

- Longbenton, Howdon, Whitley Bay (hotspots) – streets, parks, sea front

- Friday & Saturday nights

· Possible secondary targets include:

- Parents, siblings and friends of underage street drinkers/clients within the Childsafe programme

- Childsafe staff/police

- Alcohol retailers (particularly off-licenses and corner shops), bartenders, waitstaff

- Schools?

- GPs?

·  A wide range of interacting factors influence young people’s drinking behaviour, and these exist as personal characteristics or in the immediate environment

·  Young people’s drinking behaviour progresses through several stages as they age. While older teenagers are more likely to binge drink, drinking unsupervised on the streets is more common among 14-15 year olds. By 16-17 years, drinking becomes more regular and moves into pubs and clubs. At this stage, alcohol tends to make young men engage in more aggressive behaviour

 

 

 

Research objectives

 

· To outline patterns and trends of alcohol consumption among young people in England, the North East, and North Tyneside.

· To review the political context in which this intervention on public drinking and young people exists.

· To outline current work in North Tyneside that addresses issues related to alcohol misuse and young people.

· To establish an evidence base of good practice from various other strategies that aimed to address public drinking among young people.

· To analyse the behaviour and opinions of young people who drink on the streets.

· To identify factors that influence young people’s drinking behaviour and forms of competition for the desired behaviour (not drinking on the streets).

· To produce a report that reflects current data and evidence and makes recommendations for further primary research, which will then lead to the development and testing of a social marketing intervention to tackle kerbside drinking in young people.

Background

 

In 2007, ten learning demonstration sites were set up by the National Social Marketing Centre with funding from the Department of Health. The aim of which was to help local areas apply and integrate social marketing into their programmes and strategies, whilst helping to develop a robust evidence base for social marketing. The learning demonstration sites are also a key component of the Department of Health’s ‘Ambitions for Health’ strategic framework to build capacity and skills in applying social marketing principles to health interventions.

The learning demonstration sites were based in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and local authorities across the country and addressed a wide range of health issues.

The decreasing kerbside drinking among young people in North Tyneside was one of the demonstration sites selected for the programme.

Quick summary

 

The decreasing kerbside drinking among young people in North Tyneside pilot project was one of ten learning demonstration sites, set up by the National Social Marketing Centre with funding from DH, to build capacity and skills in applying social marketing principles to health interventions. This document outlines key learning’s from a desk review of relevant resources including policy documents, reports, surveys and statistical databases.

Research participants

 

Not specified

Audience Summary

Ethnicity

 

Not specified

Age

 

Predominantly 14-17 year olds

Social Class

 

Not specified

Methodology

Methodology

 

Desk-based research consisting of gathering existing resources from key contacts and a web trawl of secondary data, including policy documents, reports, surveys and statistical databases

Data collection methodology

 
Online
Systematic review

Sample size

 

Not specified

Detailed region

 

North Tyneside

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