Social and Cultural Aspects
In Europe and the world, the consumption patterns of alcoholic beverages as well as the expectations about the effects of alcohol are strongly influenced by cultural factors. The vast majority of people who drink wine, do so in moderation. This is the reason why reducing the overall amount of alcohol a society consumes does not necessarily reduce the drinking problems in this society. Thus, it is important to consider cultural and social factors when developing alcohol policies.
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BACKGROUND: The average U.S. adolescent is exposed to about 2.5 hours of popular music and 8 mentions of alcohol brands every day. Alcohol brand mentions may function as advertising whether or not they are sanctioned by the alcohol industry. Our study aimed to determine associations between adolescents' involvement with music containing alcohol brand mentions and alcohol-related behaviors. METHODS: In 2010 to 2011, we conducted a random-digit-dial survey using national U.S. land line and cell phone frames. Through screening interviews, we identified 6,466 eligible households with subjects between 15 and 23 years of age, of whom 3,422 (53%) completed the telephone survey. Of these, 2,541 opted to participate in a subsequent web-based component. Independent variables included a composite score indicating owning…
AIMS: To analyse the association between alcohol advertising restrictions and the prevalence of hazardous drinking among people aged 50-64 years in 16 European countries, taking into account both individual and contextual-level factors (alcohol taxation, availability, etc.). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study based on SHARE project surveys. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 27 773 subjects, aged 50-64 years, from 16 European countries who participated in wave 4 of the SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe) project. MEASUREMENTS: We estimated the prevalence of hazardous drinking (through adaptation of the SHARE questions to the scheme used by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Consumption (AUDIT-C) for each country. To determine whether the degree of advertising restrictions was associated with prevalence of…
AIMS: To examine the associations between alcohol control policies in four regulatory domains with alcohol consumption in low- and middle-income countries (LAMICs), controlling for country-level living standards and drinking patterns. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analyses of individual-level alcohol consumption survey data and country-level alcohol policies using multi-level modeling. SETTING: Data from 15 LAMICs collected in the Gender, Alcohol, and Culture: an International Study (GENACIS) data set. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 18-65 years. MEASUREMENTS: Alcohol policy data compiled by the World Health Organization; individual-level current drinking status, usual quantity and frequency of drinking, binge drinking frequency and total drinking volume; gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity (GDP-PPP) per capita; detrimental drinking pattern scale; and age and gender as individual-level covariates. FINDINGS: Alcohol…
PURPOSE: Exposure to alcohol use in media is associated with adolescent alcohol use. Adolescents frequently display alcohol references on Internet media, such as social networking web sites. The purpose of this study was to conduct a theoretically based content analysis of older adolescents' displayed alcohol references on a social networking web site. METHODS: We evaluated 400 randomly selected public MySpace profiles of self-reported 17- to 20-year-olds from zip codes, representing urban, suburban, and rural communities in one Washington county. Content was evaluated for alcohol references, suggesting: (1) explicit versus figurative alcohol use, (2) alcohol-related motivations, associations, and consequences, including references that met CRAFFT problem drinking criteria. We compared profiles from four target zip codes for prevalence and frequency of alcohol…
Despite a downward trend in alcohol consumption among 11-15-year-olds in recent years (Fuller, E, ed. 2013. Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England in 2012. London: Health and Social Care Information Centre. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB11334 ), the proportion of young people seeking support from alcohol-related specialist services, and the societal and monetary costs associated with alcohol consumption, need to be addressed. Education can play an important role in this. The evaluation of the Alcohol Education Trust's Talk About Alcohol school-based intervention was conducted across England between November 2011 and October 2013 by independent evaluators. The aim was to compare the alcohol-related knowledge, awareness, and behaviour of students aged 12-14 in an intervention group with a statistically matched comparison group.…