Effects of illicit brew drinking and intervention measures on unemployed youth in Bungoma County, Kenya
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of alcohol consumption and
intervention measures taken to help youth who were aged between 15-25 years and
unemployed in Bungoma County.
Literature on history of alcoholism, levels of the consumption, types of brews and
characteristics of the young consumers was reviewed. The study was guided by three
theories; social learning theory, symbolic interaction theory and deviance theory.
Data was collected in several wards of Bungoma East Sub-county from among ninety
(93) unemployed youth consumers of alcohol, several key informants and case
studies.
Findings of the study indicated that majority of the unemployed youth were from poor
homesteads and dependent on their parents for their livelihoods. Most of the drinking
youth ventured into drinking as a result of stress notwithstanding the dangers involved
in it. Peer pressure played a role in luring most of them into drinking with hope of
solving stress. The drinking youth perceived problems related to alcoholism as health,
accidents, crime, immorality, and unemployment. Intervention measures by the
government, church, community, and parents to save the youth indulging in drinks
had no feasible impact to the youth. There was a danger of the drinking youth
transforming into a youth culture of alcoholic addictions, leading to unproductive
members of society unless adequate mitigation measures were promptly undertaken.
There is need for urgent professional intervention measures including training and
employment opportunities that could discourage the youth from engaging in drinking
and make them productive.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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