Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Fewer kids boozing: Report

Bay of Plenty Times
17 Apr, 2013 08:16 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The number of underage teens drinking alcohol has dropped significantly, a new report shows.

The Ministry of Health report revealed the rate of women indulging in "hazardous" drinking in 2011/12 was almost unchanged at 12 per cent, compared to 13 per cent in 2006/07, while men's rates had dropped from 30 per cent to 26 per cent.

Among 15- to 17-year-olds, 59 per cent had consumed alcohol in the past year, compared to 75 per cent five years earlier.

About 44 per cent of men and 26 per cent of women aged 18-24 years had hazardous drinking patterns, however, the total rate of such drinking in this age group had decreased significantly in five years, from 49 per cent to 36 per cent.

Athenree teenager Cassandra Hindmarsh said binge drinking was a big problem among women her age.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I see it all the time at clubs and parties, it's nothing unusual. They get really quite out of hand from drinking too much; you see them getting taken into a cop car, and the girls are being real loudmouths," Miss Hindmarsh said.

Because drinks in bars were so expensive, young people got drunk beforehand.

Otumoetai College principal Dave Randell said from the comments he had heard from young people, their drinking habits didn't appear to have changed considerably.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It sometimes makes me concerned to hear what happens on holidays and weekends.

"As a general rule, people begin drinking two years before the drinking age and that does concern me. I think New Zealand as a whole needs to work on the binge-drinking culture," he said.

Ten years ago, Mr Randell said it was mostly young men drinking, but now young women were doing so and as they had a smaller body mass it was a concern.

"Some of our young ladies will feel the effects of drinking a lot more than our husky young men.

"The girls tend to drink the stronger vodka-type drinks while the boys drink more beer."

Get Smart Drug and Alcohol Services Tauranga manager Stuart Caldwell said any reduction in the consumption of alcohol was good news, especially in the under-25 age group: "This age group has featured far too predominantly in alcohol related harm statistics in recent years. Get Smart is a youth agency and 80 per cent of the clients our clinicians see are male."

While Mr Caldwell couldn't say if there had been a change in Tauranga's drinking culture, he said there was consistent demand for alcohol counselling, with about 800 clients' appointments a year. He said there hadn't been any decrease in counselling statistics.

The director of Tauranga's Hanmer Clinic, David Benton, said the decreases were a positive thing.

"Anything that reduces alcohol abuse improves the health of people and overall stability of society, so hopefully it is true," Mr Benton said.

He expected younger people to drink more as they were at an experimental age, but it was also the age where addictions came to the fore.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Benton said as publicity around alcohol harm increased, people looked at themselves and perhaps started moderating their behaviour: "Maybe that ongoing publicity around alcohol is starting to have an effect, like smoking. I hope so."


Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Current hotspot': Back-to-back national titles for Tauranga basketballers

10 Jul 06:13 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Kaitiaki fight pathogen endangering iconic Mauao pōhutukawa

10 Jul 06:03 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Highly venomous': Deadly sea snake washes up on Coromandel beach

10 Jul 05:38 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Current hotspot': Back-to-back national titles for Tauranga basketballers

'Current hotspot': Back-to-back national titles for Tauranga basketballers

10 Jul 06:13 AM

The Under-18 and Under-20 women's teams won their championships.

Kaitiaki fight pathogen endangering iconic Mauao pōhutukawa

Kaitiaki fight pathogen endangering iconic Mauao pōhutukawa

10 Jul 06:03 AM
'Highly venomous': Deadly sea snake washes up on Coromandel beach

'Highly venomous': Deadly sea snake washes up on Coromandel beach

10 Jul 05:38 AM
Heavy rain warning likely for BoP – MetService

Heavy rain warning likely for BoP – MetService

10 Jul 12:40 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP