This book is based on the premise that drinking behaviors are primarily learned. The contributors to the book explore the complex array of individual and social factors that impact the development of drinking patterns. They traverse family and culture influences, and the role played by schools, government, and the beverage alcohol industry. Learning About Drinking offers a rigorous and scholarly examination of drinking behavior brought to life with illustrative cases drawn from around the world. Social policymakers, historians, anthropologists, public health specialists, as well as mental health professionals will find this book of value. Learning About Drinking offers a refreshing, evidence-based look at a process that has too often been taken for granted.

In the early 1980s teenage drinking had become one of the many foci for expressions of concern about young peoples’ morals, health and discipline. Yet we knew very little about how most young people drink – the qualitative aspects of youthful drinking. The research emphasis had hitherto been upon the level of drinking, neglecting the social forms, styles and associated meanings of specific drinking practices such as round-buying. Originally published in 1983, the core of this book reports upon an ethnographic study of the circumstances, cultures and drinking practices of one particular stratum of youth. The service sector had become an increasingly important area of employment, but little was known about service sector youth cultures. The author shows how mixed-sex round buying arises in such a culture and how it differs from the drinking practices of other groups. The study goes on to develop a general model for understanding drinking practices in diverse strata of youth, and draws out implications for health and social education. Drink education is related to the increasingly important, and contentious, area of education about ‘working life’ and to sexual divisions in society. Introducing these sections is a review of the historical origins of concern about public drinking. Originating in yearly Vagrancy Acts and elaborated over 500 years, the state’s policies about production, distribution, and consumption of alcohol are an integral part of its general economic and social policies, and will continue to be framed by them.

The use and misuse of alcohol by young people is an established concern. Initiatives designed to educate the young about the potential dangers of alchol are frequently directed solely at teenagers. Growing up with Alcohol argues that this may be leaving it too late. Emma Fossey presents a detailed account of a study of children aged between five and ten years, carried out through a series of ingenious game-like activities. She explodes the myth that young children are ignorant about alcohol and provides valuable insights about how very young children learn about alcohol and about their early perceptions of alcohol. The study questions the effectiveness of past alcohol education and argues strongly that future initiatives should develop innovative and user-friendly alcohol education materials for use in primary as will as in secondary schools and colleges.

Since the establishment of the first alcohol education course (ABC) for young offenders in 1981, this fono of service delivery has been expanded across the United Kingdom. While some before-and-after data have been reported, no con trolled evaluations have been completed on effectiveness with this type of inter vention. The present research reports a series of evaluation studies to investigate the impact of ABCs on offending and drinking behavior. Young offenders were recruited from local courts. The first study, completed in Dundee, reported results from a comparative evaluation between two types of ABCs. As an attention-placebo study, one group received a behavioral ABC with program contents designed to reduce drinking and offending behaviors. Some dependent variable differences between the two groups were observed at follow-up. The second study was established in Glasgow as a replication of the main study. The third study used a quasi-experimental design to establish a no-intervention control group in the Perth courts. Young offenders were recruited to complete screening interviews, without any intervention. The intervention group was re cruited from courts in Forfar, a similar rural town. This group completed an infonoation-based ABC, using educational materials about alcohol and its effects. Some dependent variable differences were observed at follow-up. The fourth study was based in a Young Offender Institution at Forfar. Prerelease young offenders were randomly assigned to either a no-intervention control group or a behavioral ABC group. Some dependent variable differences were reported at follow-up.