The amount of alcohol consumed in Australia is not decreasing despite the ageing population in this country. Many young people, men and women are consuming more alcohol. The latest Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) Report, Families in need of support (2008), highlights the biggest problem for Australian families, this being binge drinking by young persons (Australian National Council on Drugs, 2008, p. 1). Binge drinking is defined in an earlier study as “five or more drinks on one occasion” in a study of youth and health risks (Carr-Gregg, Enderby & Glover, 2003, p. 2). In the Australian report (2008), the figures provided show that “In any given week 1 in 10 (or 168,000) 12 to 17 year olds had reported binge drinking/or drinking at harmful levels [males…7 or more drinks on one day and females 5 or more on the day], (ANCD, 2008, p. 1).
As a sharp contrast there were only 0.5% or 1 in 200, 12 year olds who drank at harmful levels (ANCD, 2008, p. 1). The report also disclosed that 451,000 children live in households where they are at risk of exposure to binge drinking by one adult (ANCD, 2008, p. 2). The ANCD Chairman, Dr. John Herron, concludes from the report “that drug and alcohol use by young people has become normalized and is often seen as a rite of passage to adulthood”, a
comment very disturbing in its import (ANCD, 2008, p. 2). Sadly the majority of treatment providers in Australia, do not currently provide direct services for families who have a young person with alcohol or drug problems” (ANCD, 2008, p. 3).
Former studies indicated that seventy percent of young women engage in binge drinking at some time with 19 per cent doing so on a weekly basis (Carr-Gregg, Enderby & Glover, 2003, p. 2). Twenty-two percent of females, 14-19 years, drink between nine and thirty alcoholic drinks on one day (Carr- Gregg, Enderby & Glover, 2003, p. 3).
According to Stockwell (2003),a Curtin University study recorded that 80 percent of the alcohol, drunk by adolescents, is being consumed by the 18 to 24 age group in risky binge drinking sessions (as cited in Curtin University, 2003, p. 1). According to a later report (2004) “about half the men in Australia, aged 14 to 24, and one third of the women in the same age group, drink irresponsibly once a month, consuming six to thirty drinks in one session” (Corkill, 2004, p. 5). This binge drinking for women includes the “14-17 year olds [who] regularly consume up to 30 drinks in one session” according to a Salvation Army survey reported by Corkill (2004). “Girls, as young as twelve and a half, can start drinking” according to a study by Tindle, a counsellor and psychologist from the Queensland University of Technology (as cited in Corkhill, 2004, p. 15).
A 2005 report of a longitudinal study of antisocial behaviour among a representative sample of Victorian adolescents, recorded alcohol use was common for 85 percent but fewer had used marijuana at 19 percent and very few, less than 4 percent, used hard drugs (Australian Temperament Project, 2005, p. 3).
Binge drinking accounts for most of the 3,500 deaths per year from alcohol related harm. The way alcohol is an accepted, central part of our culture and our acceptance of excessive drinking and being drunk are aspects of this alcohol problem that must form the basis for immediate reflection. According to a survey conducted for the Salvation Army (2002) in Australia, the average age for children to begin drinking is “less than 14” (as cited in Coleman,
2002, p. 1). A high 63 percent has had their first drink by fourteen and 14 percent by the age of eleven (as cited in Salvation Army, 2002, p. 1). This survey stated that “the younger a person is when they start to drink, the more likely they are to drink more than 30 drinks a week” (as cited in Coleman, 2002, p. 1). This drinking - which is a hazard to one’s health and known as binge drinking - is common among the 18 to 24 age group and is the main cause of 93 percent of health problems in young men and 82 percent in young women (Coleman, 2002, p. 2).
Other frightening revelations from this survey show that the binge drinking has reached epidemic proportions amongst young males and females in this country (Salvation Army, 2002)(as cited in Coleman, 2002, p. 2).
For 19 percent of females and 54 percent of males, a binge drinking session lasted for four hours whilst alcohol consumption on an average weekly rate has doubled over the last 10 years. Ten years earlier, 1992, 14 percent admitted that they had consumed six drinks or more, whilst in 2002 it was 28 percent (Salvation Army, 2003, p. 1). Family income is also a factor. In those families with incomes over $50,000, drinking commences at 15, but for those earning only $25,000, drinking commences at 18. Young women increasingly drink to “fit into social occasions”, while men drink “to relax” (Salvation Army, 2002, p. 2). The young girls in a study by Bloustein (2003) in Adelaide (South Australia) revealed their common activity, using a combination of alcohol and amphetamines and the regular taking of “Dope, acid trips and Rohypnol”. They also talked about how boring life would be without drugs (Bloustein, 2003, p. 54).
The Salvation Army sees 30,000 people a year trying to rid addiction to alcohol and drugs and as a result the Governments of Australia have had to implement educational programmes to counteract the effects of these excessive behaviours. The trends in the drinking behaviour of young people in recent years affect many more people than their immediate peer group because of the longer-term problems they cause, with the associated health problems.
On a positive note, an earlier study by Lipsitt and Mitnick (1991) suggested that self-derogation and the cathartic use of leisure prove to be stable over time and form greater pleasure than drinking. These authors also quote Kandel and Logan’s study (1984) whose findings suggested that a considerable number of young people reduce or even quit their drinking habits after a time of experimentation (Lipsitt & Mitnick, 1991, p. 206).
The research on alcohol is very concerning for those involved with adolescents. The studies reviewed in this chapter illustrate graphically the enormity of the problem and provide credibility for what this research will reveal about this negative risk taking activity in one Tasmanian region.