The Crisis of the Party

Abstract

In recent years, public discourse of ‘problematic’ and excessive alcohol consumption amongst young people has moved dramatically towards a crisis. This was captured by Australian federal government concerns with a binge-drinking epidemic, which resulted in a series of policy interventions such as the National Binge Drinking Strategy between 2008-2009 and 2011-2012, the National Binge Drinking Campaign in 2008-2010 and 70% taxation on ready-to drink or ‘alcopops’ in 2008. Recent state and territory government policies mirror this trend, introducing secondary supply legislation that makes it illegal for a non-guardian to supply alcohol to a person less than 18 years of age. South Australia is now the only state in Australia where the supply of alcohol to minors on private premises is not controlled by law. While significant research attention has been directed towards the issue of violence in the night-time economy, another domain of concern is the ‘uncontrolled’ party. This thesis defines an ‘out of control’ party as a violent, wild, unregulated and ungoverned event...

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Teen Parties: Who Has Parties, What Predicts Whether There is Alcohol and Who Supplies the Alcohol?

Abstract

This study explores which youth are more likely to have parties at home, what factors are associated with the presence of alcohol at parties, and who supplies the alcohol. We collected data in 2011 and 2012 through telephone interviews with 1,121 teens living in 50 mid-sized California cities. Overall, about a quarter of teens reported having had a party at their house in the past 12 months, of whom 39% reported that there was alcohol at their last party. Multiple sources supplied alcohol for most parties. Seventy-two percent of those having a party stated that at least one of their parents knew about their last party, and 64% reported that a parent was home at least part of the time. Seventy percent of youth who hosted a party with alcohol said that their parent(s) definitely knew that there was alcohol at the party, 24% replied that their parent(s) probably knew, and only 5% said that their parent(s) did not know

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