Push to delay teen drinking under way
Binge drinking in Southland continues to be a problem as high numbers of young people are ending up in the emergency department with alcohol-related conditions.
To reduce alcohol harm among youth, WellSouth and the Southern District Health Board have started a trial in Invercargill to present information via liquor stores, secondary schools and social media to promote the delaying of teen drinking.
Well South health promotion specialist Bridget Rodgers said that although continous excessive drinking was declining in young people, data indicated that risky drinking behaviours such as binge drinking were still part of Southland’s culture.
The reason the campaign was being trialled in Invercargill was because secondary schools in the city showed an interest in a similar programme that had been run in Nelson, Rodgers said.
‘‘It came from the community wanting it and requesting it.’’
A report provided by the SDHB, measuring alcohol-related harm in the region, showed 593 people aged between 18 and 34 arrived at the hospital’s ED in the 18-month period between July 2017 and December 2018.
This was more than half of the total of 1104 cases recorded in that time frame.
The most effective way to reduce alcohol harm was to delay teen drinking, Rodgers said.
The younger a person started drinking the more likely it was that they would drink harmfully in their late teens and adult life, she said.
The report, Our Voice: Addressing alcohol harm in Murihiku/Southland, released in 2016, showed that the SDHB had the highest percentage of hazardous drinkers among all district health board regions.
It showed 25 per cent of Southlanders were drinking hazardously compared with the national average of 17 per cent.
Public Health South public health adviser Lynn Grace said that with the Southland District and Invercargill City councils’ local alcohol policy being renewed this year, they had more understanding of the factors of alcohol misuse since the 2016 report.
They could capture the demographics and the significant times of the year where the alcohol abuse occurred, Grace said.
Although continous excessive drinking is declining in young people, data indicates that risky drinking behaviours such as binge drinking are still part of Southland’s culture. Bridget Rodgers Well South health promotion specialist
Invercargill Licensing Trust marketing and sales manager Angee Shand said that an update on the Our Voice report into problem drinking was under way and would be released next year.
While the previous report had figures on the whole SDHB region, the upcoming report would focus on information specific to Southland.
The campaign to delay teen drinking may be extended across the SDHB region next year, depending on the success of the programme in Invercargill.
Alcohol harm facts
■ One person on average arrives at Southland Hospital’s emergency department every three weeks with a life-threatening alcoholrelated condition.
■ One or two people on average arrive at Southland Hospital’s ED everyday with a potentially life-threatening alcohol-related condition.
■ Between July 2017 and December 2018, 711 of those presenting to ED for alcohol harm were male and 393 were female.
■ July and December are the busiest months in ED for cases related to alcohol harm.
Could it be time to take the intergenerational slur ‘‘OK Boomer’’ and rebrand it as ‘‘OK Boozer?’’ The lighthearted insult, made famous by Green MP Chloe Swarbrick, has caught on as an easy way to describe the generation gap.
A good news story that is not reported as often as it should be is that young people are indulging in fewer ‘‘risk behaviours’’ than older people did at the same age. By ‘‘risk behaviours’’, we mean drinking, drug-taking, smoking and sex.
Stuff has run a series this week titled Over the Limit, which tackles the various ways in which drinking impacts negatively in New Zealand.
There are the physical and mental health dangers and the social pressures that alcohol has traditionally brought to bear on our society. In a nation of conformists, the sober were chastised as ‘‘wowsers’’.
Much of the reporting on alcohol consumption continues to be critical. But it is also intriguing that a new generation seems less bothered by the ‘‘wowser’’ label.
The findings of University of Otago doctoral researcher Jude Ball are mirrored in other countries such as Australia, Britain and the US.
A New Statesman headline in 2015 wondered about ‘‘The strange death of boozy Britain: why are young people drinking less?’’ The research seemed to contradict the common media picture of hedonistic excess. Similarly in Australia, where a headline read ‘‘Don’t believe the hype, teens are drinking less than they used to’’.
The reasons for this are mysterious and complicated. When Ball talked to Stuff she was still unsure about why drinking has fallen among young people. Parents who are less permissive about drinking could play a part. The notion that teenagers go out less than they used to could be another factor. While declines in smoking rates seem driven by clear changes in social attitudes, influences on drinking patterns are less obvious.
British researchers suspected the online realm has become a source of social life for young people, one that operates without booze.
This would also contradict familiar stereotypes about the perils of social media use. It means connectivity has a positive side we rarely hear about along with the dark side we regularly do.
In a broader sense, research like that conducted by Ball and her counterparts overseas shows social change is possible and negative trends can be reversed. Public health campaigns and education are likely to be important parts of that. Findings like this could even lessen the anxieties of voters as the referendum on cannabis approaches in 2020.
Ball’s research shows cannabis use has declined significantly among adolescents since the 1990s, with national trends again mirrored by those overseas. However, adult consumption of cannabis has increased over the same period.
As Ball said when her findings on cannabis use were published, ‘‘There’s a perception that every generation gets worse and worse when it comes to risk behaviour but that’s not always the case.’’