Binge drinking is leading many teenage girls to engage in risky sexual behaviour which they later come to regret, a new report has warned.
Researchers have revealed that more than one in five 15 and 16-year-old girls who drink at least once a week have had drunken sex which they have later regretted.
The report also revealed that more than 15 per cent of boys have similar regrets.
Regret
The report, compiled by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, said: “Those binge drinking three or more times a week were over five times more likely than non-binge drinkers to have had sex they regretted following alcohol.
“Such drinking can place girls in situations where they are too drunk to properly consider whether they wish to have sex or take the appropriate precautions to prevent pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections.”
Alcohol
The report, which examined the drinking habits of 15 and 16-year-olds in North West England, was based on questionnaires filled in by nearly 10,000 teenagers.
It compared binge drinkers, those who drink five or more alcoholic beverages in one session at least once a week, with non-binge drinkers.
It also revealed that nearly 40 per cent of the teenage girls who drink at least once a week had been involved in a drunken fight, compared to 42 per cent of boys.
Tougher
Don Shenker, of Alcohol Concern, said: “There is clearly a link between young girls’ binge drinking and unplanned sex as well as alcohol-related violence.
“It’s about time ministers took a tougher stance on the causes of teen girls binge drinking.”
Earlier this year an Anglican Bishop hit out at the Government’s failure to tackle alcohol abuse, an issue he described as “one of the major sins of our time”.
The Rt Revd Geoff Annas, the Bishop of Stafford, blamed the extension of the licensing laws and called for a “seismic shift in attitudes” towards alcohol, as there has been towards tobacco.