Mark Jayne - Childhood, Family, Alcohol

This lucid, engaging text provides a much-needed insight into drinking cultures and practices in families with younger children. Based upon an impressive programme of research, its key contribution is to demonstrate how alcohol is signified, articulated and felt, both within and beyond the confines of the family. The book should initiate a step-change in scholarship on childhood, families and alcohol, whilst providing clear recommendations for policymakers working in this arena.

Peter Kraftl, University of Birmingham, UK

Jayne and Valentines new book represents the cutting edge of research on alcohol studies. It is an excellent addition to a burgeoning area of research. The range and focus of the work is impressive and represents essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the complex worlds of children, families and alcohol.

Michael Leyshon, University of Exeter, UK

In contemporary societies in the global north there is growing concern about alcohol consumption amongst young people, even in countries such as France and Italy, which have previously been assumed to have sensible drinking cultures (Jrvinen and Room 2007; Velleman 2009). Alcohol research has generated a voluminous amount of writing focused on young people in terms of a diverse range of issues with a non-exhaustive list of studies including; everyday drinking practices in households and the role of family and peer influence (Komro et al. 2007; Lowe et al. 1993; Yu 2004; Conway et al. 2003; Shucksmith et al. 1997; Marquis 2004; Bogenschneider 2004; Plant and Miller 2007; Bergh et al. 2011); teenage risky behaviour (Newburn and Shinner 2001); gendered geographies of young peoples drinking (Forsyth and Bernard 2000; Hubbard 2005; Leyshon 2005, 2008) and the mis-use of alcohol by both young people and parents/carers (Leib et al. 2002; McKeganey et al. 2002; Ward and Snow 2010; Templeton et al. 2011). Despite this progress it is noticeable that there has been a relative lack of research that examines the transmission of drinking cultures within families across a broad diversity of social groups, including those who do not necessarily consider themselves as having an alcohol problem, or to be suffering the consequences of other peoples problematic drinking (Holloway et al. 208: 534). Moreover, research has also failed to consider in a sustained manner children who are younger than teenagers, or indeed to address in a convincing way how space and place are key constituents in parental and childrens and young peoples knowledges and experiences of alcohol, drinking and drunkenness.

In this book we unpack the complex ways in which geographical imaginations contribute to the transmission of drinking cultures within families (Jayne et al. 2008a; Valentine et al. 2010a). In the UK, official figures actually show a decrease in numbers of young people drinking above Government recommended levels of consumption, with politicians, policy makers and charities warning against complacency and raising concerns about young people underreporting their alcohol consumption and highlighting the role of alcohol in violence and disorder in public space (BBC 2015; and see Jayne and Valentine 2015; Jayne et al. 2015 for a critique). Recent policy attention has, for example, been focused on the potential role of parents/carers in preventing alcohol misuse by their offspring, and in supporting the introduction of alcohol to young people.