MORE than 80 per cent of people in Scotland have been pressured into drinking alcohol by friends, according to a survey.
It found peer pressure was the number one influencing factor for those being encouraged to drink.
A total of 83% of respondents in Scotland said friends had urged them to drink, with being told “Go on, just have the one” the most common method of persuasion.
Among teetotallers, around 70% were asked if there was something wrong due to refusing alcohol. The greatest concern for Scottish respondents abstaining from drinking was the fear of appearing boring, at 60%, on a par with elsewhere in the UK.
However, fear of being left out was greater in Scotland than the UK average, at 50% compared with 36%.
Researchers found one in three Scottish men felt vulnerable on the dance floor sober, compared with just 12% across the UK. Nearly 80% of Scottish respondents reported social events as the top trigger for drinking, 4% above the UK average.
In Scotland, men were 18% more likely than women to be pressed into drinking by friends, increasing to 20% at social events. One in 10 women north of the Border had been pushed into drinking by their bosses.
Scottish respondents were half as likely to feel pressured to drink alone, at 14%, compared with the UK average of 30%.
Other situations where Scots felt less pressure to drink than the UK average was during holidays and in the sun.
The survey was carried out by the One Year No Beer campaign in collaboration with Stirling University. It polled 1,697 adults across the UK and Ireland, including 521 in Scotland, Campaign co-founder Ruari Fairbairns said: “I know from personal experience how difficult it is to say no when you are being badgered into having a drink.
“And it’s easy to cave in under peer pressure when everyone around you is having a great time getting stuck in. It’s expected of you to drink – it goes against the grain if you don’t.
“Why is it that it’s the people we call our friends who find it hardest of any of our relationships to accept when we say no?”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel