Drinking amongst Girls in England in 2008

Selected statistics from the Information Centre’s annual report

• The proportion of girls who say they’ve drunk in the last week is at it’s lowest in the last decade (16%)

Proportion of girls who had ever had an alcoholic drink: 1988-2008

Girls drinking patterns by year

• The proportions who have never drunk falls with age.

• After rising in the first half of the last decade the proportion of girls saying they have drunk in the last week has fallen back.

Proportion of Girls who have never drunk alcohol by age and sex

Proportion of girls who drank alcohol in the last week

• Those who are drinking appear to be drinking more often than in the past.

• The proportions drinking on Friday and Saturday have grown.

The mean number of drinking days for girls who had drunk in the last week, by sex and year

Days on which girls drank in the last week

Units

• Following a change in the way units are calculated it is now difficult to do comparisons with previous years figures.

• Of those who have drunk in the last week 27% of girls say they had drunk 15 or more units of alcohol.

• What girls drink appears to be culturally determined, with – boys drinking more beer than girls, and – girls drinking more spirits and alcopops

Units of alcohol drunk by girls who have drunk in the last week

Types of alcohol drunk in the last week

Percentage of units drunk in the last week by type of drink

• Parents appear to be giving children alcohol to their children less often.

• Young people are increasingly drinking at home or parties and less at clubs or pubs.

• Amongst current drinkers the proportion of young people drinking on the street, in parks or outside increases as they get older.

• The heaviest drinkers are least likely to drink with their parents.

Getting alcohol from home?

Street drinkers?

Street drinking by age

Where do the heaviest drinkers drink?

Heavier drinkers are less likely to drink with their parents

Family Perceptions

• Young people think their families tolerate their drinking (as long as it’s not too much) as they get older.

Perceived family attitude to pupil’s drinking

Drunk

• Girls are slightly more likely to have been drunk if they have drunk alcohol in the last 4 weeks

• Girls who have been drunk are more likely to have; felt ill or sick, had an argument, vomited, had their clothes damaged, and lost money than boys

Drinking to get drunk?

Consequences

Consequences

Lessons

• Most pupils have a relatively accurate view of the proportions of pupils of their own age who drink alcohol

• Recall of lessons has been relatively stable in recent years– Year 10 pupils are the most likely (68%) to recall a

lesson alcohol in the last year– Year 7 pupils are the least likely (45%)

Perception of how many people of pupil’s age drink alcohol

Recall lesson on alcohol

Proportion of pupils who remembered receiving lessons about alcohol in the last year, by school year

Helpful sources of information for girls

Helpful sources of information

• Smoking drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2008 can be downloaded from the Information Centre’s website at:www.ic.nhs.uk