When I grow up, I want to be.....an addict , an inmate or a divorcee

This post was requested by a friend of mine, who as a police officer has witnessed first-hand the rise of anti-social behaviour in today's society. In an attempt to rein back sporting content, I am going to widen out his subject from Premiership footballers to celebrities in general. Essientially, he believes that the rise of anti-social behaviour in today's youth can, in part at least, be attributed to the chequered lifestyles that the main protagonists in our popular culture lead.

Take first the example of the national game, football. The FA launched its much heralded "Respect" in September 2008, aimed at bettering the relationship between the multi-millionairre stars and officialdom. However this week alone has seen an international footballer banned for throwing a coin into the crowd, 2 managers fined for insulting referees and a player fined for offering a gesture of support to a former team-mate jailed for causing the death of 2 young boys through drink driving.

With role models such as these is it any wonder that young lads fly in the face of authority, why should they obey their teachers, guardians and parents when the England captain had such a flagrant disregard for basic social conventions.


Yet football is not alone. In our celebrity- obsessed culture, whatever your means of escapism may be, you can be sure that the most controversial exponent of the art will attract the column inches and thus become the likliest destination for a teenager's adulation. Take pop music, Amy Winehouse is by far the most talked about female singer of the past two years, as much for her spouse's bail-dodging and her narcotic dabbling as any tune that has been released. Winehouse's brand of "heroin chic" has superseeded anything that a Leona Lewis or a Katie Melua would be able to sustain. This "heroin chic" that has had a renaissance from the early 90's even found it's way to mainstream marketing with Topshop's frankly disturbing recent campaign.


Indeed, the Lewis' and Melua's are often unfairly tarred as "boring" interviewees as they don't have a spell in rehab or a bitter divorce to talk about.

Steve Morrison, a London headteacher wrote an article in the Guardian last week suggesting that teenagers are beginning to look closer to home in the search of a role model.

Community involvement programmes can help this immeasurably and shows like Dragons Den and to a lesser extent the X Factor can cultivate a healthier level of aspirationsalism amongst today's youth. Perhaps one of the hidden blessings of reality TV is that it can empower youngsters into believing that they can achieve their dreams as themselves, as opposed to looking to replicate the behaviour of their questionable idols that they see splashed across Match of the Day and Heat magazine.