County Councillor urges young girls to show themselves more respect
Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for Children, Young People and Families Councillor Izzi Seccombe has urged young girls to respect themselves more
An international survey shows that teenagers in the UK are more likely to get drunk than their counterparts anywhere else in the industrial world.
The report, which has interviewed young people from 24 countries in the industrial world, was carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It also shows that among 15 year olds, girls are more likely to get drunk than boys.
Although British teenagers enjoy a high quality of life in many aspects including schooling, low levels of bullying and below-average child poverty the lives of UK youngsters, especially girls, is characterised by alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancy.
Drunkenness is measured in terms of the proportion of 13-15 year olds who have been drunk at least twice. One in five 13 year olds report having been drunk at least twice, a figure four times higher than for countries such as the United States, Sweden and the Netherlands. Among 15 year olds, 50% of girls reported getting drunk, almost three times higher than the figure for France. For boys in the UK, the figure is markedly smaller, at 44%.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe points out that Warwickshire has been drumming home the messages of safe drinking and safe sex for years. A recent advertising campaign illustrated life for young girls who fall pregnant after drinking in an attempt to show the realities of unprotected sex after a drinking binge.
Cllr Seccombe said: “The subject of alcohol comes up time and again when we talk about factors that are harmful to quality of life. When abused and drunk in large amounts, particularly by underage people, it can have disastrous consequences.
“Violent assaults, criminal records, severe illness are fairly common outcomes from an alcohol binge, especially for young boys. Of course this can happen to girls also but what is more common is unwanted pregnancies.
“Clearly we have a problem in the UK and it is something that Warwickshire is working very hard through schools, contacts with youth clubs, outreach workers and other means to combat. We are using every means at our disposal to try and educate young girls about the downside of drinking too much alcohol.”
For further information log onto http://www.stayincontrol.org.uk