Its All the Rage

A recent Herald article about teen drinking caught my eye, and too put it bluntly.. I was horrified!!!
The article states that:

"Children as young as nine are among hundreds of people under 16 being treated by specialist clinics for alcoholics and drug addicts in greater Auckland"

What has caused this horrific trend?

According to Catherine Spooner of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Australia one of the causes of alcohol abuse in young people is there attitude. She states that a low sense of social responsibility, high tolerance of deviance and lack of sufficient ties to community groups such as family, school and churches can seriously affect adolescents attitudes. So what can we do?

I think - from a planning perspective - we have to look to community development and land use.


Community Development: If there is a lack of sense of community and place, then we are fighting an upwards battle. We need to create areas that focus on the demographic. We need to invest time and money into creating facilities that support young children such as youth groups, sports groups and the like. Children need a sense of social responsibility, without it they could turn to even worse things that acceptance through alcohol.
Broken families are often a major cause of adolescents rebelling - so focusing on strong family support groups is also something that can help the cause.

Land Use: Well according to a report by Robert Reynolds, Harold Holder and Paul Gruenewald of California Prevention Research Centre, alcohol availability in a community has a serious affect on the under age drinking trend. It has said that there is generally a better trend if alcohol retailers are further away from playgrounds and school facilities.

This is an example of land use planning in Bikenhead where there is serious fail

                  Photo Cred: Hannah Good 2011

As you can see the photo, there is an alcohol shop to the left directly across the road from Birkenhead primary school. To me this is a massive problem. Especially since the alcohol shop is open at 3pm when kids are let out of school.

Although this is just on example, mistakes like this can be the difference between an adolescent making a mistake and turning towards alcohol abuse, and a child growing up with a sense for social responsibility.

There is a lot more involved in this issue, but in my opinion, simple planning steps like land use and community development can play a huge role in a child's life.


To read more on the herald article follow this link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10715367

To read more about common causes of alcohol abuse follow: http://informahealthcare.com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/doi/pdf/10.1080/09595239996329
To read more on community development and land use measures follow: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/doi/10.1046/j.1360-0443.92.6s1.8.x/pdf