Young men and boys in the country are putting their health in danger with risky drinking behaviour, according to the latest data from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS).

The results are based on a large, long term study from 2013/14 to 2022 involving 16,000 men and boys aged between 10-57. 

It showed that young men and boys in the bush are twice as likely to engage in risky drinking behaviour than their peers in the city. 

According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, healthy adults should not drink more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than four in one day. 

Ali Syed assistant manager for Western NSW at Lives Lived Well in Dubbo said that nearly three-quarters of their clients identify as males. 

Lives Lived Well supports people with concerns related to alcohol and other drugs, mental health, gambling, transitioning from corrective services, and gambling. 

"An unhealthy relationship with alcohol often begins earlier in regional and remote areas," Mr Syed said. 

"Factors such as early social exposure, limited recreational opportunities, and fewer alternative activities for young people can all play a factor."

Lives Lived Well offers services to people aged 18 and over but the AIFS study says that drinking can start much earlier for boys. 

Six percent of the minors surveyed in the study aged between 10 to 17  said they consumed more than nine standard drinks on a night out, or other drinking occasion. Thirteen percent of this age group continued to engage in risky drinking behaviour over the next ten years. 

Boys aged 10 to 17 are also more than double as likely to engage in risky driving behaviours over the next ten years than their peers in the city. 

“What we can see through this longitudinal data is that drinking patterns are fairly well established by the time men reach the age of 30,” Dr Sean Martin Leader of the Ten to Men Program at AIFS said. 

Heavy drinking can lead to more than just physical health issues. It can also prompt mental side effects and the deterioration of relationships and work performance. 

Mr Syed said that his clients in Dubbo often mention accessing mental health services as one of the number one challenges they face. 

 Dr Ian Spencer has been working in Central West NSW since 1978, starting in Bourke and later moving to Wellington in 1983.

He agreed that support programs are often underfunded and understaffed to provide people experiencing alcohol addiction the support they need.

"I think the drug and alcohol workers are under-resourced, understaffed, and the workload is really quite stressful and difficult." 

He said that unemployment and a lack of opportunities in rural and regional areas fuels risky drinking behaviour.

"I think the problem starts with low school retention rates, low employment, and low opportunities for young men."

"When they drop out of school, it leads to unemployment and boredom. They just drift into a habit a lifestyle of smoking and drinking and everything else that it leads to." 

"Within a peer group, it can almost become a pastime."

Dr Spencer said that with young men often the effects of intoxication can have them end up in the hospital. 

"They get brought to the hospital because they've been drinking and had a fight or put a fist through a window or had a car accident." 

"We get quite a few people who come with drug and alcohol problems and we will bend over backward to try and help them."