Three Meath schools participated in teen drink survey

Over 13,000 students, including pupils from three Meath secondary schools, have participated in Drinkaware’s Junior Cycle Alcohol Education Programme (JC AEP) which was the subject of a three-year longitudinal study by Maynooth University.

This significant study, for the first time, tracks 1st to 3rd year students’ experiences of alcohol education in Ireland in real time. As the national charity working to reduce and prevent alcohol misuse in Ireland, Drinkaware commissioned Maynooth University’s Centre for Mental Health and Community Research to investigate the programme’s effectiveness and, in particular, its primary prevention goal to delay the age of first drink.

The programme involves 8-10 lessons delivered on a weekly/fortnightly basis by the trained teacher and to date 134 schools have undertaken the programme including Rathoath College, Athboy Community School, and Boyne Community School.

More than 350 students from 19 schools across the country took part in the evaluation that was conducted over the three-year period (2018 – 2020).

The report found that as the students progressed through the JC AEP, the proportion who expressed no intention or interest in drinking, rose from 30 per cent in 1st year to 54 per cent in 3rd year.  The findings also show that participation led to substantial and sustained improvements in students’ knowledge and understanding of alcohol when compared with pre-programme delivery data.

Students’ knowledge of the impact of alcohol on overall health and wellbeing increased substantially and progressively from 22 per cent pre-programme to 50 per cent in 3rd year.  A similar increase was found regarding students who reported ‘knowing a lot’ about alcohol’s impact on mental health which also doubled from 23 per cent pre-programme to 46per cent in 3rd year.  Furthermore, nearly half (46 per cent) of participating students identified the negative impact of alcohol on physical and mental health as a reason why teenagers do not drink.

As the study followed participating students through their three formative years of secondary school, there was a marked shift across some of the results when comparing 2nd and 3rd year data.  For instance, the 60 per cent of students who indicated that they had never drunk alcohol remained fairly stable between 1st and 2nd year, but then decreased sharply by 17per cent as students went from 2nd to 3rd year.

A disturbing result revealed in the study was that 38 per cent of 3rd year participating students who drink, have already experienced one or more negative effects of alcohol consumption, such as physical fights, arguments, accidents/injury, and/or feeling physically sick/vomiting.

A recurring theme identified within the report, was that of parents’ role in underage drinking.  Parental permissiveness – even if this is only perceived by the student – and the ease with which alcohol can be accessed in the home setting, may either inhibit or enable underage drinking. For instance, 57 per cent of 3rd year students had first consumed alcohol either in their own or someone else’s home, most saying they did so with little difficulty whilst only one in four said they got into trouble with parents for drinking.

In contrast to the 44 per cent in 3rd year who cited tolerant parental views regarding alcohol, 19 per cent indicated that their parents do not like to see them drinking, and 17 per cent of those in 3rd year who had not started drinking cited concerns over their parents’ reaction as a deterrent to drinking.