What are the environmental and social factors associated with binge drinking among adolescents and can their mindsets can be positively influenced by elements of design? Alcohol is a universal and fundamental part of our everyday culture and features significantly in the social interaction of teenagers in many countries. There are very few occasions where drinking alcohol is not encouraged and adolescents in particular are experiencing the consequences of binge drinking. Alcohol Among Australian adolescents, approximately two-thirds report that they are recent drinkers and around one-third drink weekly. To date, the majority of literature I have researched has viewed binge drinking as a single phenomenon. In my research I would like to put forward the notion that binge drinking should not be defined as one entity, but thought of as diverse forms involving different behaviours and attitudes focusing on environmental and social factors.
METHODOLIGIES
The research conducted will be qualitative and methodological in its nature. In order to understand the influence that environmental and social factors have on the expected outcome of binge drinking, I intend to conduct interactive research. I aim to identify and analyse the various upbringings, social and environmental differences between the individuals. In order to gain information for my research, the methods will include open ended and semi-structured interviews and generate questionnaires aimed at adolescents aged from 15-22.
THEORETICAL DISCOURSE
The role of family, friends and peers in Australian adolescent’s alcohol consumption’, written by Jones and Magee (Figure 1) and ‘Factors influencing youth alcohol consumption intention’, (Figure 4) and “Why Do Adolescents Drink? Motivational Patterns Related to Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol-Related Problems (Figure 2) are all extremely important articles in relation to this research context because they both explore the various underlying positive and negative influences that parents, peers and advertising have on shaping adolescents drinking attitudes and behaviors from a young age and how they progress into adulthood. The article “Shaping safe drinking cultures: evoking positive emotion to promote moderate-drinking behavior” (Figure 3) is important to the research context as it provides me with an example of how positive reinforcement campaigns can influence adolescents.
REFLECTIVE PROCESS & CONCLUSION
At this point in my research, I have been able to identify the various factors influencing adolescent drinking attitudes, focusing specifically on environmental and social factors. I have also researched previous attempts created in order to influence and change adolescent binge drinking. Although I have not developed the questions that will be asked during the interviews or the questionnaires that will be given out to the participants, I have achieved an understanding on what type of questions need to be asked in order to further my research. my research has provided me with an insight to how different approaches produce different results. For example, it has been shown that by using scare tactics and negative imagery positive outcomes are produced to an extent within adolescents. However, when positive messages and information are produced, there are lasting transformations within the binge-drinking adolescent demographic.
FUTURE RESEARCH
Future research is required to develop a deeper understanding of the reasons as to why adolescents binge drink. My research question solely focuses on the social and environmental factors but there are wide ranges of elements that influence adolescents. An interesting topic that could be further researched is the impacts that binge drinking have on the adolescent brain development. Much of the research that I looked into mentioned this topic and was highly associated with this topic.
REFERENCES 1. Sandra C. Jones, Christopher A. Magee. “The role of family, friends and peers in Australian adolescent’s alcohol consumption”. Drug and Alcohol Review Volume 33, Issue 3 (May 2014): pp 304-313, doi: 10.1111/dar.1211 2. Erika Comasco, Kenneth Berglund, Lars Oreland, Kent W. Nilsson. “Why Do Adolescents Drink? Motivational Patterns Related to Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol-Related Problems”. Substance Use and Misuse Volume 45, Issue 10 (2010): pp 1589-1604, doi: 10.3109/10826081003690159 3. Josephine Previte, Rebekah Russell-Bennett and Joy Parkinson. “Shaping safe drinking cultures: evoking positive emotion to promote moderate-drinking behaviour” International Journal of Consumer Studies Volume 39, Issue 1 (January, 2015): pp,, 12-24, doi: 10.1111/ijcs.12146 4. Franco Sancho, Maria Miguel and Joaquin Aldas. “Factors influencing youth alcohol consumption intention” Journal of Social Marketing Volume 1, Issue 3 (2011): pp,, 192-210, doi: 10.1108/20426761111170704. 5. DrinkWise Australia, 2009. “Kids Absorb Your Drinking” Advertisement, The Reputation Group, RealMedia, MPEG,YouTube Video, 45 sec., https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=yiXvAo6o0HY 6. Vinh Vo, Leslie Baz, Hamza Hasan, and Kate Chesebrough, Red Solo Cup Project, 2014, Art Installation, Syracuse University. 7. Australian Government, 2008. Drinking Nightmare Advertisement Campaign. http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/binge_narrowweb__300x451,0.jpg 8. Dench, Peter. Alcohol & England. Liverpool, England: The Bluecoat Press, 2014.
This is an antibinge drinking campaign created by the Australian Government which ran from 2008 to 2010 and was targeted at teenagers to address the high levels of binge drinking among young Australians. This campaign was used raise awareness and to confront adolescents about the consequences that could happen as a result of binge drinking. This was done by a series of confronting short video advertisements, magazine advertisements and an online game. The tagline, “Don’t turn a night out into a nightmare” was used to force adolescents to think about their actions before they consume alcohol. This ad campaign is useful to my research question as it portrays the negative effects of binge drinking and uses scare tactics so that the visual images will stick in young people’s minds.
(Figure 6)
This public art installation was produced by four Syracuse University students with the aim of raising awareness of the notorious party culture the university has and how it damages the environment around them. These students designed four separate installations to highlight this theme and displayed them at different times throughout the week. This specific installation consisted of two piles of red solo cups, one on each side of the pathway with a flattened section in the middle. In order to create this, students of the community spent the day collecting the litter from around the area where the installation was created. This installation is very useful to my research topic as it demonstrates the effect that partying culture has on has on the Syracuse community and how it influences the reputation of the University. (Figure 7)
This advertisement campaign was produced by the Australian Government with the aim of demonstrating how parents can influence their children’s future drinking behaviour from a young age. This video was also accompanied by a magazine advertising campaign, supporting website, medical leaflets and media publicity (UTS Library, 2012). The results of this campaign have been extremely positive and have influenced Australian parents to think about how their drinking habits affect their children. This was an extremely strong campaign which produced excellent results within the Australian public. This ad campaign is very useful to my research topic as it demonstrates how positive campaigns with a strong message can influence the general public and that not all alcohol campaigns need to be negative to have an effect. (Figure 5)
Alcohol and England is a photo book produced by photographer Peter Dench, which intends to document in depth England’s relationship with alcohol during the years between 1998 and 2008. The purpose of this photo book is to shed satirical light on familiar aspects of society, and that is the binge drinking culture in England. The photography in this book examines the ways in which drinking to get drunk has created a range of social problems and Dench uses the English drinking culture to portray his message by using images of people, for example, passed out on lawns, the effects of alcohol fuelled violence and individuals kissing in public places. This photo book is extremely useful to my research as it portrays the fun, light hearted side of drinking alcohol, but also provides a visual statement of the consequences of binge drinking and drinking with the intention to get drunk.
(Figure 8)