Male youth street culture: understanding the context of health-related behaviours

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.