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Alcohol use in children and young people

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Introduction

Whilst the majority of young people do not use alcohol or drugs, and most of those who do are not dependent, drug and alcohol misuse can have a major impact on young people's education, their health, their families and their long-term chances in life. Further information on alcohol-related harm in Blackpool is available in the Alcohol section. The Parental Substance Misuse section provides information on children living with alcohol misusing parents.

Facts and Figure

Hospital admissions due to alcohol specific conditions

    • There were 40 young people living in Blackpool under the age of 18 years who were admitted to hospital due to alcohol specific conditions in the 3-year period 2017/18-2019/20.
    • The admission rate of 46 per 100,000 population is 50% higher than the national average of 30.7 per 100,000.
    • While the trend in Blackpool continues to fall (figure 1), the admission rate for young people in the town is still significantly higher than the national average.
    • Young women are twice as likely to be admitted as young men and admission rates for young women in Blackpool are 60% higher than the national average (figure 2).

Figure 1: Trend in alcohol specific hospital admissions in young people aged under 18, Blackpool and England

Trend chart that Blackpool's rate for alcohol admissions is higher than the England rate but has been declining since 2012/13 to 2014/15.
 Source: PHE Local Alcohol Profiles for England

Figure 2: Alcohol specific hospital admissions in males and females aged under 18, 2017/18-2019/20

Bar chart shows that whilst male alcohol-specific admission rate is slightly lower than England, the female admission rate is significantly higher (58.72 per 100,000 population compared to 36.71 in England).
 Source: PHE Local Alcohol Profiles for England

Attitudes and experiences

Blackpool Health Related Behaviour Survey (2019)

The Health Related Behaviour Survey, produced by the Schools and Students Health Education Unit (SHEU) is a way of collecting robust information about young people’s lifestyles. Data from the 2019 survey shows that in Blackpool:

Blackpool Primary school pupils - Years 4 and 6 (ages 8 and 11)

    • 5% of boys and 2% of girls in Year 6 said that they drank an alcoholic drink (more than just a sip) in the week before the survey.
    • 87% of pupils say that they don’t drink alcohol.
    • 2% of pupils reported that their parents ‘never’ or only ‘sometimes’ know if they drink alcohol.
    • 1% of pupils drank beer or lager, 1% said wine, 1% said cider in the week before the survey.

Blackpool Secondary school pupils - Years 8 and 10 (ages 12 and 15)

    • 1% of Year 10 pupils bought alcohol in the last 7 days from an off-licence who should only sell to over-18s.
    • 7% of Year 8 and 21% of Year 10 pupils drank alcohol on at least one day in the week before the survey.
    • When asked for their main reasons for drinking  85% of drinkers said it was ‘often’ or ‘always’ ‘to socialise and have fun’, 38% of drinkers said ‘to get drunk’.
    • 9% of pupils reported that in the last year they had been drunk at least ‘once or twice a month’.

When looking at the changes in alcohol data between previous SHEU surveys, there has been a downward trend since 2007 locally in alcohol use amongst all age groups in the survey. When comparing the Blackpool data to the wider SHEU survey sample, there is no significant difference between young people in Blackpool and their comparators from other areas.

North West Young Peoples' Alcohol and Tobacco Survey (2017)

The Trading Standards North West 'Young Persons' Alcohol, Tobacco and E-cigarette Survey 2017' has been conducted in the North West every two years since 2005. The survey questionnaire was largely the same to that used in previous surveys to enable tracking of results. A total of 9,173 questionnaires were completed and returned.

The report summarises the key findings of a survey to assess the behaviour and attitudes of 14 to 17 year olds in the North West towards alcohol. The key responses were:

    • Young people in the NW are drinking less – the percentage who have never drunk alcohol continues to rise, where they are drinking they are consuming less units of alcohol per week, and the percentage claiming to drink alcohol once a week or more continues to fall (although is slightly higher amongst 17 year olds).
    • The percentage identifying themselves as regular binge drinkers continues to fall - although we have seen an increase in the level of occasional binge drinking compared to two years ago.
    •  Where young people choose to drink has changed significantly over the last 10 years - fewer are drinking in pubs and clubs or outside (although the percentage drinking outside has increased slightly in the last two years), and more are drinking at home or in their friends’ homes under parental supervision.
    • Young people appear to becoming more sensible towards alcohol - big falls in the percentage who think that getting drunk is normal and fun, although attitudes towards drinking do change significantly amongst 17 year olds.
    • Clear differences in behaviour by age and gender - young girls are more conscious of the need to drink in groups and more concerned about their drinks being spiked. The most significant shifts in behaviour amongst young people appear to occur between the ages of 16 and 17.

Local Services

The Blackpool Adolescent Service offers flexible one-to-one treatment, support, advice and information for young people, parents, carers and professionals around drug and alcohol misuse. As well as one-to-one work with young people, the service also offers group work for young people who are actively misusing substances to raise their awareness and to offer support. Referral is by self-referral or can be made by other services or professionals. Support can be accessed by telephoning 01253 754840 (9am - 5pm Mon-Fri).

National and local strategies

    • Blackpool Alcohol Strategy 2016-2019 highlights the many areas of our lives touched by alcohol misuse in Blackpool and sets out the action plan for reducing alcohol-related harm.

    • NICE guideline [NG135] Alcohol interventions in secondary and further education (August 2019) provides guidance for interventions in schools and FE colleges to prevent and reduce alcohol use among children and young people aged 11 to 18. 
    • A Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England highlights the association between alcohol hospital admissions and teenage pregnancy, how alcohol consumption lowers inhibitions regarding risky sexual activity and vulnerability, leads to the increased liklihood of regretted or coerced sex, and also increases the risk of sexual aggression and sexual violence.