title: Male youth street culture: understanding the context of health-related behaviours.
abstract: In the UK growing concerns have been expressed about young people, and particularly young men, who spend large amounts of their leisure time on the streets. Problems such as vandalism, under-age drinking and drug use have all been heavily reported in local and national media. This paper reports on ethnographic (primarily participant observation-based) research which sought to explore the motivations, meanings and behaviours of young people hanging around on the streets during the evening in a Scottish town. The aim is to move beyond previous research which has largely focused on the 'risk' factors associated with health-relevant behaviours, and to provide an understanding of the roles of alcohol, illicit drugs and tobacco within the young people's street culture. The paper therefore provides contextualized accounts of health-relevant behaviours. In conclusion it is argued that, to be effective, health promotion programmes need to locate lifestyle risk behaviours within broader life circumstances and that without a reduction in 'risk conditions' it is unlikely that youth street culture will disappear or that 'risk behaviours' will reduce.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit in Health and Behavioural Change, and Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavis
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cunningham-Burley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012606:Scotland; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders