Still seldom heard and hard to reach. Still drinking? NEET young people and alcohol in a northern town

In 2008 the researchers undertook a study exploring the drinking careers of young people who are not in education, employment and training (NEET) in a small post-industrial town in England, (Nelson and Tabberer 2015). This report presents research which repeated the study with the same cohort of young people described as NEET, in the same geographical location, to see if anything has changed over the ensuing 10 years, and to further investigate this under researched group. Key findings • Many young people described as NEET are drinking little or no alcohol and drinking plays no part in their lives. • Experimental drinking starts at a young age and can include risky and harmful behaviour but has been grown out of by the age of 17. • Social media plays little part of NEET young people’s lives and acts to discourage drinking. • Park and street drinking is for those in their early teens. When those in their later teens do drink it is at home or with those they trust at friends’ houses.