Youth Studies Australia vol.13 no.3
September 1994
Youth participation: Concepts and structures, by Assoc. Prof. John Ewen
Youth Studies Australia, v.13 n.3 pp.13-20.
If our social, political and economic structures are not serving the interests of our youth, should young people be given the means to participate more significantly in these areas? What sort of structures could accomplish this, given the transient nature of "youth"?
Weed Control: Factors affecting youth smoking in Australia, by Bruce Andrews and Terry Alchin
Youth Studies Australia, v.13 n.3 pp.21-27.
In the USA, tobacco is now officially classed as an addictive drug. In Australia, one-third of our school students are consuming it by the age of 15 - despite the fact that it is illegal to sell it to them. This paper calls for more stringent control policies affecting price, availability, and fines to help to reduce tobacco consumption by young people.
Young women and drinking, by Jeremy Davey
Youth Studies Australia, v.13 n.3 pp.28-31.
Women's drinking patterns have changed considerably since the days when the presence of women acted as a powerful force in controlling male alcohol consumption. Now the young women do it too - they drink and get drunk, and control has a whole different meaning.
"Not a Problem" Young people's perceptions of their use and abuse of alcohol, by Robyn Broadbent
Youth Studies Australia, v.13 n.3 pp.32-35. Young people believe they use alcohol for pretty much the same reasons as adults: relaxing and having a good time. Consequently, their response to community concerns over young people's drinking habits tends towards the incredulous; if they've got a problem, so do we.
Parents or Peers: Who influences adolescent drug use the most?, by Tess McCallum Youth Studies Australia, v.13 n.3 pp.36-41.
The question of parents vs peers is an important one given the resources that are targeted to one or the other of these groups in relation to drug education. This researcher believes "the strength of the evidence puts parents ahead of peers" and: "The findings regarding the effects of parental modelling of substance use, and the quality of parent/child attachment on substance use are so consistent that it appears they play a prime etiological role."
Measuring demographics and drug use of Australian teenagers, by Claudia Ovenden and Wendy Loxley
Youth Studies Australia, v.13 n.3 pp.42-45.
Describes a useful research instrument for obtaining a variety of demographic and drug use information from young drug users.
Surviving Satanism: Overcoming self-destructive behaviour in rural adolescents, by Linda Johnson
Youth Studies Australia, v.13 n.3 pp.46-52.
The aberrant behaviour of a group of 18 adolescents from a rural NSW town had placed them in their community's "too hard basket". When occult involvement proved to be the common factor in their individual histories, a program was devised which successfully moved them out of their self-destructive patterns and away from the occult.
The Tomorrow People: The Japanese youth challenge to traditional values, by David Sandhu, is reprinted from the British youth magazine, 'Young People Now', Leicester, UK, Ph: 0533 471 200, Fax: 0533 471 043.
Youth Studies Australia, v.13 n.3 pp.53-55.
Continuing our look at youth issues in other countries (The Netherlands and the USA were featured in previous editions of YSA this year), we have David Sandhu of Britain's 'Young People Now' reporting on the generation war in Japan, a country undergoing tremendous change as traditional values, attitudes and culture are being challenged by the nation's youth.