Adolescents and Alcohol

Institute of Alcohol Studies
5 April 2007




In the interwar period in the UK young people aged 18-24 were the lightest drinkers in the adult population and the group most likely to abstain. Nor did alcohol play a significant part in the youth culture that came into existence in the 1950s, this being more likely to involve the coffee bar than the pub. It was not until the 1960s that pubs and drinking became an integral part of the youth scene. By the 1980s, those aged 18-24 years had become the heaviest drinkers in the population, and the group least likely to abstain.

By the year 2002, hazardous drinking i.e. drinking bringing the risk of physical or psychological harm now or in the future, was most prevalent inteenagers and young adults.

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