ABSTRACT
Alcohol consumption by young people periodically becomes the focus for public concern and mass media attention. During recent years extensive publicity has been accorded to ‘lager louts’ and to the alleged involvement of heavy drinking in public disorder by young people, especially males (British Medical Association 1986). Such ‘moral panics’ do not necessarily reflect significant increases in levels of alcohol-related problems amongst the young. Sometimes they even occur at times when youthful drinking habits are stable, or when alcohol consumption may be declining (May 1992). The UK shares with North Western Europe and North America an ambivalence towards alcohol. A commonplace feature of this ambivalence takes the form of trepidation about the real or imagined excesses of younger drinkers. The latter, it is sometimes assumed, are particularly vulnerable in this respect because they are inexperienced and inclined to do silly things.
