Our parents buy our alcohol, say a majority of 12- and 13-year-olds
Wednesday 24th November 2010, 11:30AM GMT.
Lifelong learning manager Alun Williams presented the results of the Young People’s Survey. Behind him are some of the professionals who advise young people, left to right, Jeanie Lynch, Julie Duquemin, Andrea Nightingale and Vidya Amey (Picture by Tom Tardif, 1057632)
MORE than half of 12- and 13-year-olds who are drinking alcohol had been bought it by their parents, a survey has found.
The results of the Young People’s Survey 2010 for alcohol, drugs, tobacco and sex and relationships have been released today.
Although the vast majority of statistics are positive, there are some issues of concern.
There was a significant drop in the number of young people of all age groups who admitted to having had an alcoholic drink in the previous seven days.
But there was an increase in the number of 14- and 15-year-olds who said they had drunk more than they intended.
- Read the full story in the Guernsey Press. See below for subscription details.
- To read Guernsey Press stories in full click here for subscription details. Individual editions are now available online.
Island Life
All about Guernsey
Ambassador of the Year 2011
History & Heritage
Visitor Information
Guernsey's government
Campaigns
Voice For Victims
Voice for Victims is a campaign aimed at promoting the rights of those affected by child sexual abuse.
This is Guernsey
Guernsey Press
Useful Links
In my opinion alcohol is one of the biggest problems this Island faces at this time. It would make an interesting statistic seeing the percentage of alcohol related accidents/crimes in the Island in the last year.
Having seen first hand the effect of alcohol on a good friend of mine a few years ago (16 year old) I find it amazing the lengths they went to get alcohol – not an isolated case I’m certain!
It saddens me when I see a bunch of kids walking to/from town with a 2 litre bottle of ‘coke’, barely able to walk. Some parents may think it’s a bit of fun, but the health as well as social risks are generally ignored and pinned on alcoholics, not thinking their kids (or even themselves) could be one and in danger!
Report abuse
This survey should be taken with a pinch of salt. A lot of students do not answer truthfully, and will not answer truthfully, as generally they will follow their friends in what they answer.
I know this for a fact, as my two children, both 12 and 13 said they just messed about when taking this survey, which they haven’t been paid to complete. If you answer a survey online you normally get a few quid.
This data could be sold for a lot of money.
Report abuse
It is a well known fact that alcohol is the major cause of statistics
Report abuse
@Ray; quite true. It is also a well know fact that statistics are the major cause of alcohol.
Report abuse
as i am the age of 14.i would say the reason for so many young people drinking and getting into trouble is because they think it’s something to do as there is nothing fun for teenagers to do on the island of guernsey and therefore find it cool and fun ! if we actually had somewhere to go or something to do without getting into trouble it would take our minds of things and would be able to just have fun without getting in trouble with the police.. thanks for reading my opinion.
Report abuse
Mr G – you children’s ages appear to vary as much as your alias.
Report abuse
I have children at different ages. I don’t see this as much of a problem, do you have anything constructive to say towards this news post, Lynnie?
Report abuse
I see the ‘old chestnut’ of not having anything to do has been offered as an excuse. This island has just about every sport going, there are youth clubs, Scouts, Guides, museums, Beau Sejour,St.James, 27 miles of coastline offering fishing,swimming,surfing,canoeing,sailing ( part of the school curriculum), where else in Britain is sailing offered? There is La Societe Guernesiase which covers subjects including Archaeology,Botany,Astronomy,Entomology,Ornithology, Marine Biology,Geology, Historic Buildings amongst others. There are the libraries, you have the cliffs for walking. Children locally have no imagination and are spoilt. No doubt the next excuse will be that some of these things cost money. Try getting off your backsides and working for some spare cash and stop expecting everything to be handed to you on a plate.
Report abuse
What the survey fails to mention is whether the alcohol ‘suppied by parents’ is, say, a large bottle of cider given to take to a party, or half a glass of wine drunk with the Sunday evening family meal
Big difference!
Report abuse
pyer – exactly!
the question seems to have been “have you had an alcoholic drink in the past two weeks?” and then “if yes, who bought it?”
If those questions were asked in France, 90% of 12 year olds would say “yes” and “my parents”, and yet there is not a major issue with adolescent alcohol abuse in France.
we need to stop our kids abusing alcohol, but trying to cut them off from it until they are 18 is counterproductive, and unachievable.
Report abuse
I don’t think for one minute we should brush issues under the carpet and clearly there are causes for serious concern. I also note that this report was only for those in full time education – so any who left school at 16 were omitted.
Nevertheless, given that the conclusion from the report was “overwhelmingly positive for the majority of young people” I think it’s a shame that the GP have chosen to highlight this one negative issue – which, like pyer notes, is open to interpretation.
I would have preferred a more positive slant on this report which seems to indicate that, on the whole, Guernsey youth seem to be doing pretty well. Perhaps if we talked up our youth a bit more they might respond more positively?
I should add that I haven’t read the full article in the GP so my comments are based purely on this online article.
Report abuse
Ah yes, the old “there’s nothing wrong with letting your children have a little wine with their families at meatime, it’s what the French have been doing for years with no problems” excuse.
Firstly, the notion that French children are raised with a regular glass of wine is a myth. Ask most French people about it and they’ll tell you that it’s only the ignorant country-bumpkin classes that are proponents of this practice. The French generally consider it inappropriate and look down upon those who do it. The reason the continent does not have as much of a problem with alcohol as the British Isles is because they grow up in an environment that doesn’t involve bragging about how much you can drink, or turning the consumption of booze into something akin to a sport.
Secondly, if I were to espouse the ‘harmlessness’ of giving my children a cannabis cookie or two after dinner, the public outrage would be perfectly understandable, the developing brain of a child should not be influenced by drug use. Yet the, equally abhorrent, middle-class practice of normalising ethanol as a recreational drug, through the “it’s just a glass of wine” mentality, somehow isn’t viewed the same because it’s ‘ok to drink your drug’ apparently.
Get this, ethanol is a psychoactive drug.
It is an intoxicant with little to no physiological benefits whatsoever and innumerate potential harms.
If it’s ‘just a glass of wine’ or ‘just a small beer’, ask yourself this, if it didn’t contain ethanol, would you still bother?
Be honest, Beer, Wine and, most definitely, Spirits, taste foul and require some getting used to when drinking them for the very first time. Wheatgrass juice also tastes foul but is infinitely less harmful than booze, yet we don’t prepare out children for adult life by getting them used to the taste of wheatgrass juice.
Report abuse
As a teenager in Guernsey I also parroted the old excuse of there being “nothing to do” on the island. Saints’ comment above hit the nail on the head – the truth is that we were lazy and unimaginative. I have friends who grew up in London who gave the exact same excuse.
There is plenty to do in Guernsey, and we have the added bonus of living in a beautiful and relatively safe environment.
My friends and I were far more interested in drinking when it was illegal for us to do so. Lower the drinking age to 16 and encourage parents to give their kids a small glass of wine with meals. Take the mystery out of alcohol and we will see a dramatic change.
Report abuse
Well said “Saints – Nov 25th” could not have put it better myself. How is Chloe h going to respond to that? Same old argument about it costing too much to join these clubs or not being “cool enough”? Jeez, life is too short to let these opportunities go past. They are not that expensive; you get out a hell of a lot more than you put in. Try it and see and you may be quite surprised. (or maybe you are concerned that your friends might ignore you…?)
Report abuse
Lynnie is right. the input from Mr G is a nonsense, he now has children of 12 & 13, I have something constructive to say Mr G…you are a fantasist and your posts are inane…that is all.
Report abuse
I think we need to have balanced perspective here,i will provide one as i seem to be one of very few people who know the facts
Sit,liten and learn
Beholding to the establishment way and it’s conventional stronghold. Vacant of independence, freedom, and a way of self. Prisoners, are we…….why?
Report abuse
my grandsons mother used to buy alcohol when he was 12 when i mentioned it to the police they said as long as he is not walking the streets drinking it itwas ok. i always thought it was against the law to supply alcohol to juveniles silly me.
Report abuse
I do agree that there is plenty to do in Guernsey and it has recently been a big regret that when I was younger my parents did not enrol me in many clubs such as scouts etc. However, to bring that up does not quite answer the question of why adolescents drink. I am still at school, in the UVI, but there is definitely a culture of drinking surrounding my peers. If you ask someone what they want to do on a saturday night, they will reply “get hammered”, before parties, where alcohol will be present, there are “pre-lashes” to get one suitably drunk.
I disagree that the reason why people drink is purely because there is nothing else to do, certainly we are blessed with a beautiful home! I would say peer pressure holds great sway on why people drink, they see friends downing pints and want to feel socially accepted. People want to see if they can get away with things, they want to feel like adults, and an association with adulthood is drinking! The amount of fake ids which I have seen, of various quality, is incredible, but it’s a risk and people enjoy the rewards.
I would finish that people do muck about on surveys, I did this survey and the thought process going through my mind and many of my friends’ was “will it ever end?” So we hurried through it and undoubtedly people mucked about on it! The only way through is to increase prices (an unpopular move for many!), increase awareness of the dangers, we had many lessons of drug abuse in life skills but few on alcohol abuse, and stamp down on fake ids. It’s a hard thing to deal with but it is dangerous!
Report abuse
@ Mr G- OMG! So not only are you xenophobic but now you are saying your children are liars? That they messed up their surveys because they need financial gratification to genuinely do a simple task? No wonder… you’re setting a brilliant example at home. Well done!
Report abuse
@Haggis- I’m sure you are right about the thought process of people answering the questions! It’s definitely not easy to answer 100 questions…However, still following your trend of thoughts, I’d say that if/when you reach question n. 50 you’re bored to tears and it’s really getting up your nose, then the chances are that you’d be animated by all sorts of negative feelings.
It’s very likely that the young people would express those negative feelings by giving answers that they hoped would pull the survey down. For e.g. If you’re asked n. 80 Do you feel respected? You’d say no. or n. 90 Do you like who you are? You’d say no. n.100 Who do you admire? King Kong!
So, the results of the survey would actually be quite negative! So thanks for your point because what it’s revealing about the overall survey is that the situation in Guernsey is even better than what we think it is.
Any piece of research whether it’s a qualitative or quantitative one, has an element of bias. All researchers acknowledge this. But what the results of the survey show is some kind of trend…and I think it shows a very positive generation with loads of potential.
They’ve got issues as well but nobody is perfect. All the agencies working with the young people are trying to help them by giving them the support they need.
Report abuse