Comment - Yes, we can act against the corruption of children's livesJackie Ashley
Monday December 10, 2007
The Guardian
Be it binge-drinking or sexualisation, evidence of damaging social change is too obvious to ignore. But there are things we can do
What is moral panic and what is a social crisis? Ed Balls, the children's minister, is launching another study this week into the effects on youngsters of commercialisation, video games, early sexualisation and a hard drinking culture. It's a "condition of Britain" moment. Libertarians will respond with a groan. There they go again, politicians knee-jerking to the agenda of the tabloids. Yes, yes, the amateur historians will nod, it's always been thus, one hysteria after another about the condition of childhood. Others, including millions of parents, will mumble: what can politicians actually do?
Ed Balls had the grace to admit on television yesterday that this was dangerous territory. We all know that there have been vast social changes over the past few decades. But government is hardly all-powerful. There are things it can affect, and should. And there are things it can merely observe. Isn't all this merely populist handwringing.
Well, it certainly addresses real issues. There is a vast sleof surveys and statistics, from reputable academics and government bodies, which have charted the growth in youthful boozing. As the Institute for Alcohol Studies has pointed out, back between the wars, those in the 18 to 24 age group were the least likely to drink, and through the 1950s, with its coffee culture, they were still, relatively speaking, non-drinkers.
The pattern only started to change slowly in the 1960s, and by the 1980s this group had become the heaviest drinkers. Since then, young people have been drinking more, and earlier. By 2002 harmful drinking - defined as causing risk of physical or psychological harm - was most prevalent in teenagers and young adults. Just under a third of women aged 16 to 19 were drinking dangerously. Other surveys found very high numbers of children as young as 10 or 11 were drinking regularly. This is not hearsay or wrinkly prejudice, but careful research. Studies have also examined the effects of binge drinking on the liver and brain.
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