Use of alcohol among users of a Young People’s Sexual Health Service
P. McGough, P. Keogh, M. Lamont, C. Thow
The Sandyford Initiative, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
The use of alcohol by young people, and its links to antisocial and
risk-taking behaviour, has been the subject of much government and media
attention. Links to sexual risk-taking have been shown in some studies and not
in others. In an effort to discover whether this link was important to our
practice, three hundred young people attending various clinical services across
a large Scottish city were asked about their alcohol intake, and the
relationship to various health and social behaviours. 83% of the subjects were
female, reflecting the use of services locally. The age range was from 12–25
years, with most being 16–18 years old. 39.7% of respondents were still at
school.
The results: 74% drank at weekends or more frequently, with only 8% stating
they never drank alcohol. 50% said they stop when they’ve ‘had enough’,
but 22.7% drink ‘until it runs out’ or ‘until very drunk’. 40% drank
spirits mainly, with another 15% choosing ‘alcopops’.
While 47% of the sample had never taken drugs, 42% of respondents had mixed
alcohol and other drugs, with cannabis being the most frequently mentioned drug.
Adverse events were common: 19% stated they had experienced concern or hurt
through their own drinking, and 41.7% said they had experienced concern or hurt
through someone else’s drinking. 25.7% had been injured or hurt, 11.7% had
been in hospital, and 24.7% admitted that they had been in trouble with the
police as a result of alcohol use. 35% said that their alcohol use was linked to
unprotected sex, and 25.7% that alcohol had been linked to sex they later
regretted.
These figures show that a large proportion of young people in this group were
drinking alcohol regularly, and regretted, unprotected sex and its sequelae are
only one of the adverse unintended consequences of this. This has several
implications for education of young people, provision of services for them, and
training of staff working with them.
