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BackgroundDeveloping timely and effective strategies for preventing alcohol misuse in young people is required in order to prevent related harms since, worldwide, alcohol consumption was associated with 320,000 deaths amongst 15–29 year olds in 2004. Providing guidance and advice to parents is essential if alcohol misuse is to be reduced. However, prevention of risky behaviours is hampered if parents are unaware of the risks involved.MethodsA cross-sectional school-based survey of parent–child dyads, simultaneously questioning 935 children aged 11–17 years old and their parent(s). Univariate and multivariate associations are reported between demography, alcohol behaviours and parental knowledge of their child’s alcohol consumption.Results41.1% (n = 384) of children reported drinking alcohol. Of these, 79.9% of their parents were aware of their child’s alcohol consumption. Children aged 11–14 years had over a twofold greater odds of consuming alcohol without parental knowledge compared with 15–17 year olds (AOR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.3-5.7). Of parent–child dyads where the child reported consuming alcohol, 92.7% of parents reported that they had spoken to their child about alcohol at least once in the past three months, whereas 57.3% of their children reported that this had occurred. Children who consumed alcohol and whose parents did not know they drank alcohol were less likely to report having a parental discussion about alcohol in the last three months (AOR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1-1.0) or report lifetime receipt of at least one other parenting protective measure (AOR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.2-0.9) compared with those children who drank alcohol with parental knowledge.ConclusionsWhilst only small numbers of young adolescents in our sample were drinking alcohol compared with older adolescents, those who did were more likely to do so without their parents’ knowledge. These two factors combined (drinking earlier and drinking without parental knowledge) could place children at risk of immediate harm. Further research is essential to identify whether public health strategies should be developed which could support parents to employ lifestyle parenting techniques even before the parent believes the child to be at risk.

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In England and Wales, 16-19-year-old students are given considerable subject choice. Many follow Advanced (or A) level courses in three or four subjects and economics is a popular option. Within a wider study of A level teaching and learning, subject choice was explored. Two questions were considered: (1) Why do students choose to study A level Economics? (2) What skills and knowledge do students expect to gain which will help them when at university or in a job/career? Questionnaires were sent to 16-19-year-old students in a representative sample of 100 schools and colleges following a popular A level Economics course. Eighteen schools and colleges responded, returning 228 questionnaires. Additionally, four students were interviewed in-depth about their experiences. Quantitative analysis revealed that a large majority of students chose A level Economics because they thought they would enjoy it. At least half of the students believed they could gain an understanding of national and international economics which would help them subsequently. Only 15% identified more generic skills, such as decision making, as being of value later in life. The findings offer a useful overview of students' motivations for studying economics in England and Wales.

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