Research commissioned by the Advertising Association [June 2009] has identified personal friendship networks as the key to tackling the spread of binge drinking in the UK. 

The results of the research establish that social influence operating through personal friendship networks alone explains the large rise in binge drinking among young people seen recently in the UK. It shows that there are decisive differences in the drinking behaviour of friends of binge drinkers compared to the drinking behaviour of friends of non-binge drinkers.

By far the most dramatic difference is seen in the behaviour of friends 85 per cent of binge drinkers think that most or all of their friends binge drink, compared to just 41 per cent for non-binge drinkers.