Gendered forms of responsibility and control in teenagers' views of alcohol

Abstract

There has been a shift in the most recent UK Government's Alcohol Strategy (2012) from personal responsibility towards a model of shared responsibility for young people's drinking. On closer examination of the strategy, however, it appears that rather than exonerating young people from blame, governance is merely extended to include wider partners. Using findings from nine focus groups with young people in Liverpool, UK, we explore who they believe are responsible for their drinking behaviours and how they learn to become ‘good drinkers’. Our findings show that while teenagers were aware of dominant alcohol-related messages and maintained a moral position as responsible citizens; they also negotiated and resisted norms about teenage drinking. Although both boys and girls agreed that parents were the primary responsible authority for regulating their drinking, there was gendered disagreement about personal responsibility. The girls described how they were ultimately responsible for any adverse consequences if they drank too much whilst the boys considered a wide range of partners who would be implicated. However, unlike the girls, the boys described a willingness to either abstain or moderate their alcohol intake in order to remain in control and avoid any alcohol-related trouble or harm.

Keywords:

• alcohol
• gender
• young people
• responsibility
• control

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the respondents and schools for taking part in this research.

Disclosure statement

The study was funded jointly by the Liverpool Health Inequalities Research Institute (LivHIR) and Liverpool PCT. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funder.

Funding

This work was supported by the Liverpool Health Inequalities Research Institute and Liverpool PCT.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Liverpool Health Inequalities Research Institute and Liverpool PCT.