Boozy nights out putting teen girls at more risk of harm than boys
An alarming study of adolescent “risky drinkers” has found girls who consumed more than four standard drinks in a night were at greater risk of harm than their male counterparts.
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Girls consuming a “risky” amount of alcohol are subject to more situations of harm than their male counterparts, a new Australian study as found.
The study looked at 13 common harms experienced by adolescents who were deemed as risky drinkers — or who consumed more than four standard drinks in a night — at the hands of other drinkers.
It found more than 70 per cent of teenage girls aged 14 to 19 had experienced unwanted sexual attention from other drinkers.
And almost half reported harassment of some kind in a public place.
About a third of teen girls also said they had been left alone in an unsafe situation during or after consuming alcohol.
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Overall, girls reported having experienced up to seven situations of harm on a night out.
For teen boys the risk was much less, with the majority experiencing just three.
But male drinkers were found to be at greater risk of more aggressive harms.
Close to half of the young men said they had been pushed or shoved while drinking, while 38 per cent reported verbal abuse.
One third of both girls and boys said they had witnessed serious violence in the past year.
And those aged 18 to 19 reported higher experiences of harms.
The alarming study, which began in 2013, was published this week in the Public Health Research & Practice journal, by the Sax Institute.
Dr Tina Lam headed the research and said it was important to look at the more “everyday” harms teen drinkers were experiencing.
“The sheer range of harms was interesting,” she said.
“If a drinker had turned their back on you, rolled their eyes at you – that was really common but that’s not usually covered in our usual statistics.
“We find that women tend to have greater experience of alcohol with harms to others.
“Males tend to be heavier drinkers full stop and are more likely to be perpetrating these harms.”
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Dr Lam, a Research Fellow at the Monash Addiction Research Centre, said young people often drank at home or in private locations which meant their experience generally differed from those at pubs or bars.
“The bulk of our alcohol is consumed in our own homes or in our friends homes,” she said.
“So we need to be looking at things that cover drinking across different complexes.”
Other key findings showed a high portion of harms were at the hands of people known to the victim.
More young people were also found to be choosing not to drink, but those who did drank in greater capacity.