Young people and alcohol – where’s the risk? Changing the focus of school-based prevention initiatives

Abstract

Research statistics highlighting the social costs of widespread excessive alcohol consumption have led to a proliferation of school-based prevention programmes that aim to give young people the skills and knowledge necessary to resist social pressure to drink alcohol and avoid potentially ‘risky’ consumption. Such interventions offer, however, limited evidence of long-term success. Drawing on a case study of a pilot programme developed by Alcohol Focus Scotland this paper illustrates the promotion of a critical social perspective motivating young people to consider instead the risk posed by the marketing techniques of the alcohol industry. It is argued that a pedagogical approach focusing on developing critical awareness rather than shaping individual behaviour has the potential to reframe our understanding of this type of preventive health education as a form of political literacy or citizenship education.

Keywords:

• Alcohol risk
• school-based prevention
• critical social perspective

Acknowledgements

This article is dedicated to Evelyn Gillan, Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) until her premature death in July 2015. Evelyn aided the author’s thinking in relation to this article alongside Petrina McNaughton, Jane Wilson, Colin Morrison, Michael Paley and the young people who participated in the pilot programme.

Notes

1. All names are pseudonyms.