a new partnership with parents
TRANSCRIPT
A new partnership with parentsDelivering the National Communications Campaign on Children, Young People and Alcohol
David Chater
February 2010
Early onset of drinking alcohol a factor in a range of harms experienced by young people:Accident and injury, sexual risk taking, drug use, involvement in crime and anti social behaviour (including victimisation)
Policy Context – PSA 14 (More young people on the path to success)
NI 115 substance misuse amongst young people
Policy Context – The UK has one of the highest levels of alcohol use amongst young people in Europe
And young people in the UK are the most likely to attribute positive effects to alcohol and least likely to associate negative consequences.
All data from European Schools Project on Alcohol and Drugs 2007
How not to do it
It is incredibly easy to get this sort of campaign wrong:
-By focusing on delivering information, rather than changing behaviour- By not properly understanding the context and influences on drinking behaviour-By allowing people to ‘de-select’ or simply reject the message that is being delivered (i.e. where people feel they are being lectured to)-By being inconsistent with other implicit government messages (i.e. not part of a coherent alcohol strategy)-In particular, information-giving campaigns aimed at young people have had limited impact
“In general, across the evidence reviewed, public information campaigns have been found to be ineffective in reducing alcohol-related harms”
W.H.O.
A forensic approach
Comprehensive evidence gathering included:- Initial consultation with more than 500 parents and young
people as part of the original YAAP development- Initial DCSF customer insight and segmentation work- Detailed responses to the CMO guidance from 3,000 people
(with young people and parents amongst the main groups) and a further 20,000 online responses
- Detailed field research with 12 families and a series of focus groups exploring how young people and parents discussed alcohol and their responses to the draft information leaflets
- A review of the existing evidence base, barriers and insights to behaviour change and social marketing
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Key FindingsParents have far more influence than they believe
- parents were one of the main sources of information about alcohol cited by young people in the consultation responses. This was echoed in the Drinkaware research where 51% of young people listed said they listened to parents about alcohol- the SDD survey shows a strong correlation between parental expressed attitudes to yp drinking and actual behaviour- in the field research parents were found to have a significant influence on young people’s developing drinking attitudes and behaviours. However, this was rarely driven by planned, deliberate communication about alcohol by parents
2. Dominant parenting
style
3. Child’s age &
developmental stage
1. Parent’s attitudes to
alcohol & own drinking
behaviour
Interconnected factors
Key Findings (2)
Currently, young people start drinking and form patterns of consumption before parents start talking to them about alcohol
- parents would typically start talking to young people
8-11 yrs 13-15 yrs 15-17 yrs 17-18 yrsAware Experimenting Established Entrenched
Generally, alcohol exposure & relevance increases as YP mature:
BUT, ‘lifestyle’ can speed up or slow down maturation & alcohol exposure/relevance impacting on the nature of engagement
Got
Str
ate
gie
sNo S
trate
gie
s
Risk to my family
Not Risk to my family
Overwhelmed
Avoiders
UninformedProactive
Progressing
Proactive Flawed
Over confident
Over relaxed
It’s not talking to me they reject current information because it is off-putting, or even alienating, in tone and substance
Non-credible information … they find the information exaggerated, irrelevant or unconvincing, so they ignore it
Confusing information they find the information unclear and difficult to understand, so they can’t use it
Insufficient information … they just don’t have enough information to deal with CYP drinking
Not the biggest priority… they have even bigger concerns for their CYP than alcohol
Avoiding own behaviour … engaging with CYP on alcohol would mean facing up to their own drinking behaviour
Too uncomfortable to talk about it’s just too embarrassing - and personal - to talk about drinking too much
Harsh or Helpless… like rabbits in headlights, they just don’t know what to do about the problem of alcohol
Being a Guide… they discuss and model a sensible relationship with alcohol
Acting as gatekeepers … providing and managing access to information and alcohol is the key
An informed discussiontheir knowledge of their kids and of drinking means they are best placed to teach them
Kids as mates… friendship with their CYP is more important than setting boundaries around drinking
The ‘mass’ defence because drinking is integral to everyday adult life, it’s manageable, not worrying
Safe rebellion… drinking is a safe and normal way for their children to ‘rebel’
Involvement is Pointless
getting involved is a complete waste of time and may make things worse
Safety through familiarity … just introducing alcohol gradually is the answer
Inconsistent they want to do the right thing, but don’t really modify their own behaviour
The problem is far away they are convinced that the problem is simply nowhere near them or their family
Not going to be our problem the problem won’t breach the defences they’ve put in place around their family
I haven’t heard anything that I really understand – it goes over my
head
It’s my job as a parent to lead
my kids to safe alcohol usage
I’ve made
my point, I think that’s
enough
It’s all about other
people, not like
us
I don’t want to make a fuss, I’m
sure they’ll be fine, we all did it
It’s all too difficult
to deal with
I think it’s all best left
alone
7 parent & carer
segments
Overarching ‘Attitudinal
groups’ created, that
shared a core common insight
Parent & carer segments
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What we learnt about the proposition
Powerful and emotive
Needs direct link to alcohol
consumption
Preventative strategies are vital
Confronts parents who think ‘others’
are the problem
General alcohol
consumption not excess
Child vulnerability
leads to parents
vulnerability
The idea of ‘Vulnerability’ resonates with parents
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Your Role
You (or people like you) helped develop it! Stakeholders and agencies working directly with families essential Materials made available through a host of existing sites Campaign ‘hub’ contains logos, workshop guides, copies of the ads
and supporting materials Ongoing stakeholder strategy
Visit www.direct.gov.uk/whyletdrinkdecide? for more