2010.03.12 - New research into young people's attitudes towards drugs, alcohol a

As part of our commitment to ensure we are aware of current attitudes and behaviours of target groups, we regularly run short surveys into specific subjects.

In February 2010 Ci Research ran an online survey with 16 – 23 year olds which sought to gain insight into attitudes and behaviour in relation to alcohol, smoking and drugs.

In addition, the survey was designed to gauge reactions of young people to proposals which are dominating current political debate, including the argument for a minimum price per unit of alcohol, the banning of irresponsible drinks promotions and the removal of point of sale advertising of tobacco. Importantly, we also sought to identify the support young people are looking for and would access in relation to alcohol, smoking and drug issues should they need to do so.

The survey was in field for 5 days and was completed by 500 young people from across England.

Selected findings in relation to alcohol

• 87% of the young people surveyed said that they drank alcohol, including 70% of 16-17 year olds.
• 18% said that binge drinking was at least a weekly occurrence for them, with a further 18% claiming it to be a fortnightly occurrence. Only 14% of respondents stated that they never engaged in binge drinking.
• When asked if they thought a minimum price for alcohol should be introduced to cut rates of alcohol related harm, 16% of the young people surveyed thought it was a “great idea” with a further 42% believing it to be something which was “worth exploring”. A view was expressed that imposing a minimum price would have a direct impact on levels of binge drinking.
• The 42% who thought that minimum pricing was “not a good idea” felt that young people would willingly spend more money on alcohol if they had to and expressed a frustration about the impact on responsible drinkers and people with less disposable income.
• Only 9% of the young people surveyed felt that the proposed minimum prices were not set high enough.
• More than a third (36%) of the young people surveyed felt that a ban on drinks promotions was a “great idea”, with a further 39% believing it was something that was “worth considering”.
• Only 13% of respondents stated that they were never asked for ID when purchasing alcohol, including 19% of the 16-17 year olds surveyed.
• 8% of respondents stated that they were either consistently or frequently asked by underage individuals to purchase alcohol for them, with 24% stating that this was an occasional occurrence.
• Most commonly mentioned measures taken to ensure safety when drinking alcohol included not leaving drinks unattended (79%), eating before drinking (76%) and stopping drinking if feeling drunk / sick (69%).
• When presented with statistics about the numbers of under 18s admitted to hospital with alcohol related conditions, an equal number felt that they were higher or lower than they would have imagined (26% respectively), with the majority (48%) stating that the levels mirrored their expectations.

Selected findings in relation to smoking

• 62% of the young people surveyed had never smoked. A further 19% were former smokers, 8% were occasional or light smokers and 12% classed themselves as regular or heavy smokers.
• Only 16% of young people felt that banning point of sale advertising was “not a good idea”, with 60% believing it to be a “great idea”.
• Over two fifths (42%) of the young people surveyed felt that introducing a minimum price for tobacco would have a positive impact, with a further 27% believing that it was an idea which was worth exploring.
• Of those who smoked, more than three quarters (77%) tended to buy their cigarettes from shops. Nearly a third (30%) were given cigarettes by friends, with this being particularly likely for 16-17 year olds (53%).
• 16-17 year old smokers were most likely to smoke at other peoples houses (77%).
• When smokers were asked how much they tend to pay for a packet of 10 cigarettes, 13% of those who were able to answer stated that they paid less than £2 and 54% stated that they paid between £2-£3.

Selected findings in relation to drugs

• Two thirds (67%) of the young people surveyed stated that they had never taken drugs, with likelihood increasing with age.
• The vast majority of those who had tried drugs had done so because they wanted to experiment or because their friends were doing it / they wanted to fit in.
• Those who took drugs tended to do so with either friends their own age (84%) or older friends (45%).
• Cannabis was the most popular drug among those surveyed (31%); particularly those aged 22-23. Only 8% had tried cocaine, with this tending to be those aged 18+.
• Overall, the use of alcohol when drug taking was more common than drug taking without alcohol, particularly among those taking cocaine (39% compared to 12%), amyl nitrate (27% compared to 11%), amphetamine (28% compared to 10%) and ecstasy (35% compared to 19%).
• Over three quarters (78%) of the young people surveyed had never visited the Talk to Frank website.

Want to find out more? Request a free copy of the full report

Would you like to know how responses varied amongst:

• Different age groups?
• Males and females?
• Smokers and non-smokers?
• Alcohol drinkers and abstainers?
• Drug and non-drug users?

If so, please contact Lynsey Cargill at Ci Research (01625 628000 / lynsey.cargill@ci-research.com) and we will happily send you a free copy of the full report.

In addition, if you are interested in finding out how the responses of the young people from your region differed from the national picture we would welcome the opportunity to come and present this information to you.