The decline in gender stereotypes could play a role in drinking and smoking among girls in Britain
According to Action on Smoking and Health, around 19% of children under 16 in England smoked in 2000. By 2018 this had fallen to 5%.
But according to a major World Health Organization report released on Thursday, a third of 11-year-olds and more than half of 13-year-olds had consumed alcohol, the highest of any country in the world. It turned out that girls drank more often at the age of fifteen than boys.
While the findings raise concerns, experts say the percentage of young people drinking has still fallen sharply. Dr. Katherine Severi, the director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said that while the WHO report’s findings were disturbing, “it must be recognized that alcohol consumption among young people has fallen sharply from its peak around the year 2000, especially among boys”.
She added: “We still don’t know exactly what is driving this trend, but research suggests that young people socialize in different ways and are better at recognizing the health harms of alcohol.
Severi said there is clear evidence about what further can be done to discourage alcohol use, especially among young people, across the UK.
“We have known for decades how to reduce the harm from alcohol: reducing its affordability through excise tax increases and minimum price policies, giving local control over its availability and limiting the marketing of alcohol,” Severi said. “We know that alcohol marketing causes children to start drinking at an earlier age and in heavier quantities than they ever would have.”
The report also found that the number of 15-year-old girls in England who had ever smoked had risen from 20% in 2018 to 28% in 2022. But for boys the trend was reversed, with 25% of boys having smoked. in England in 2018, falling to just 16% in 2022.
Dr. Sabina Hulbert, a senior research fellow at the University of Kent, said the increase in smoking among young girls in England, but not boys, could be due to the reduction of gender stereotypes in modern society.
“What we think is probably the cause of the gender inversion in the trend is that social stereotypes are decreasing and gender stereotypes are being overcome, which means that gender equality is being achieved much more today,” Hulbert said. “But with that comes the risk that girls want to do what boys did, and almost want to catch up and show that they can do it, and that because boys do it, we can too.”
The analysis also found that 40% of girls in England and Scotland had vaped before the age of 15, at a higher rate than in countries such as France and Germany. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said the increase in vaping among young people could be related to children being exposed to these products online, and them being marketed directly to children.
He said: “Given that the brain continues to develop well into our twenties, adolescents need to be protected from the effects of toxic and dangerous products.
“Unfortunately, children today are constantly exposed to targeted online marketing of harmful products, while popular culture, such as video games, normalizes it.”
Dr. Jo Inchley, a reader at the University of Glasgow, said the availability of vapes could be part of the rise. She said: “Disposable vapes seem to be quite easily accessible to young people, and schools report that this is a major problem they face on a daily basis. Young people tell us that too.
“Having easy access to any type of fabric obviously makes it more attractive and available, so that’s a big deal.”