Understanding alcohol consumption in a family context

Publication type

Conference Paper

Series

Understanding Society Research Conference, 24-26 July 2013, University of Essex

Author

Publication date

July 26, 2013

Abstract:

Recent government policies have been proposed with the aim of curbing binge and heavy drinking, particularly among young people, and changing the drinking culture in the United Kingdom (UK). Alcohol consumption norms can be transmitted through peer and familial networks. The aim of this paper is to investigate the association between parental and youth alcohol consumption behaviours and the individual and household contextual factors associated with those associations.
The paper uses the adult and youth (10-15 year olds) surveys from Wave 2 of Understanding Society. Young people were asked about their frequency of drinking in the past month and the number of times they had consumed five or more drinks in a single setting, binge drinking, in the past month. Adult alcohol consumption was measured by a question about frequency of consumption in the past 12 months and the maximum daily alcohol consumption in the past seven days.
The findings showed that the proportion of young people who reported having had a drink in the past month was low but varied greatly with age. Similarly, binge drinking one or more times in the past month differed by age and gender. Patterns of parental alcohol consumption differed by gender, education and income. Overall, an increase in the frequency or amount drank by the parent was associated with an increased likelihood in the frequency of past month drinking or binge drinking of the youth. The strength of the association between parental past 12-month drinking and youth binge drinking increased with the addition of covariates.

Link

https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/research-conference-2013/papers/72

#521752

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest