The current study was based on Brown and Jacquin’s (2010) study of juror bias in rape trials, except that group deliberation was utilized in examining mock juror verdicts. Specifically, this study examined the influence of type of rape (stranger or acquaintance), complainant alcohol consumption, and defendant alcohol consumption on the opinions of mock jurors (N = 224). Type of rape and defendant alcohol consumption did not impact mock juror responsibility attributions or guilt ratings before or after group deliberation. However, complainant alcohol consumption significantly impacted mock juror opinions before and after group deliberation. Complainants who were intoxicated at the time of the alleged rape were viewed as more responsible for the rape. Defendants were viewed as more responsible when the complainant was sober at the time of the alleged rape. The results indicate a need for jurors and the courts to be aware of juror biases about female alcohol consumption.

Yes / Aims: Several studies funded by the UK government have been influential in understanding `binge drinking¿ rates in the UK. This analysis aims to establish consistency between results and clarify UK rates of binge drinking. Method: The relevant sections of these surveys were compared: the Scottish Health Survey (SHS) 1998, the General Household Survey (GHS) 2002 and the Health Survey for England (HSE) 2003. In addition the methodology used by the Health Protection Agency in the Adult Drinking Patterns in Northern Ireland (2003) was compared to the approach used by the SHS, GHS and HSE. Results: Marked differences were observed between the results of the GHS 2002 and both the SHS 1998 and the HSE 2002 despite each using a similar methodology, with the HSE 2003 reporting a rate of binge drinking in young males of 57%, and the GHS a rate of 35%. These difference may be largely attributed to variations in the criteria in binge drinking in each study. These differences in interpretation do not appear to have been acknowledged. Indeed several key alcohol harm reduction documents made inaccurate citations of previous surveys. Conclusion: The media rhetoric on escalating rates of binge drinking in the UK should be regarded with caution until trends are based on standardized recording and reporting .

Bakgrund: Sedan mitten av 1990-talet har alkoholkonsumtionen i Sverige ökat från drygt 8 liter ren alkohol per person och år till cirka 10,5 liter per person och år. Varje år dör minst 6000 människor i Sverige av orsaker relaterade till alkohol. Majoriteten av den svenska befolkningen konsumerar i måttlig mängd men en del hamnar i ett riskbruk eller missbruk som kan leda till ett beroende. Idag beräknas mellan 10-15 % av befolkningen i Sverige ha ett skadligt alkoholkonsumtionsmönster. MI (Motivational interviewing) är en metod som används av bland annat vårdpersonal för att motivera personer till förändring i sitt liv genom egen motivationshöjning. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva MI-metodens effekter på människors alkoholkonsumtion. Design: Denna uppsats är en litteraturöversikt. Resultat: MI hade en minskande effekt på alkoholkonsumtionen bland alla målgrupper som testats. MI har även positiva effekter såsom minskade alkoholrelaterade skador och upphörd alkoholkonsumtion. Vårt resultat visade dock att det inte nödvändigtvis måste vara så att MI-metoden är bättre än någon annan jämförande metod. Slutsats: Resultaten indikerar att MI är en effektiv metod att använda för att förändra livsstilen hos individer med skadlig alkoholkonsumtion. / Background: Since the mid-1990s alcohol consumption in Sweden has increased from eight liter pure alcohol per person and year, to approximately 10,5 liter per person and year. Each year in Sweden 6000 persons die from causes that relates to alcohol consumption. A majority of the Swedish population consumes alcohol moderately. However, some persons develop a destructive drinking habit that can result in addiction. Today 10-15% of the Swedish population estimates having developed an unhealthy consumption of alcohol. MI (Motivational interviewing) is a method that is used to motivate persons to change their lives by individual motivational improvement. Aim: The purpose of this study is to describe the effects of MI (Motivational interviewing) on people's alcohol consumption. Design: This study is a literature review. Result: MI had a positive effect that decreased alcohol consumption among all target groups. MI has positive effects on decreasing negative consequences of alcohol and cease alcohol consumption. Nonetheless, our results show that MI is not necessarily better than any other research method of comparison. Conclusion: The results indicate that MI is an effective method to be used to change lifestyles of individuals with dangerous alcohol consumption.

This thesis investigates the association between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Eastern Europe. The main aim was to estimate to what extent changes in per capita alcohol consumption have an impact on different forms of alcohol-related mortality, and to put the results in an international comparative perspective. The thesis includes four papers; the first two papers use aggregate time-series analysis to assess how changes in per capita consumption affect rates in suicide mortality and fatal non-intentional injuries in several Eastern European countries, respectively. The third paper applies the same methodological approach to analyse the population-level relationship between alcohol and homicide in Russia and the U.S.. The fourth paper employs survey data to assess how the risk of experiencing alcohol-related problems in relation to volume of consumption in the Baltic countries compares to Sweden and Italy. The results of the first three papers suggests: (i) that changes in per capita consumption are significantly related to changes in mortality rates of suicide, non-intentional injuries and homicide in the countries under study; (ii) that the relationship is stronger for men than for women, and (iii) that the relationship tends to be stronger in the countries with more detrimental drinking patterns, e.g. Russia. The results of the fourth paper suggest that the risk of experiencing alcohol-related problems in relation to level of drinking in the Baltic countries is similar to the corresponding risk in Sweden, but considerably stronger than in Italy. In conclusion, the findings support the significance of a public health approach to alcohol-related problems in Eastern Europe, i.e., policy measures directed towards total alcohol consumption. In addition, strategies aimed at reducing the occurrence of binge drinking seem to have great potential for reducing alcohol-related harm and mortality in Eastern European countries. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p> / Alcohol in Eastern Europe - a Public Health Perspective

In this thesis I evaluate the impact of an experiment with free sales of strong beer in two Swedish counties that took place in the 1960s. I do this by studying adult earnings of persons in utero during the experiment. My data includes date and place of birth and allows me to evaluate the impact of the experiment using a difference-in differences methodology, comparing earnings across cohorts and counties. Since the availability of alcohol increased most heavily for persons under the age of 21, and male fetuses are less physiologically robust than female fetuses, I choose to study persons born by mothers younger than 21 separately and also estimate the impact of the experiment separately for men and women. I find that persons born by mothers under the age of 21 during the experiment have lower average earnings than persons born before the experiment, and that the impact is larger on men. My results indicate that the experiment has led to adverse effects on adult earnings, probably caused by the prenatal alcohol exposure’s negative impact on fetal development. This means that alcohol consumption have long-term consequences that represent large costs to society. Since these costs are generally disregarded when evaluating the cost of alcohol consumption, society’s cost of alcohol is probably higher than usually estimated.

Three treatments designed to reduce the consumption of alcohol by native American high school students were assessed and compared. Selfreferred and staff-referred clients were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: (1) alcohol education and a peer-assisted selfcontrol procedure, (2) a peer-assisted self-control procedure, and (3) a self-monitoring only procedure. All three treatments were conducted by trained peer counselors for 14 weeks. The alcohol education and peer-assisted self-control and the peer-assisted self-control demonstrated reductions in peak blood alcohol concentration, frequency of drinking incidents, and alcohol consumption. The self-monitoring only group demonstrated changes only in frequency of drinking incidents. No significant differences were found between the three treatment programs. Alcohol knowledge was found not to differ between groups and was not found to be related to changes in any of the drinking parameters. Selfesteem changes were found to be highest for Group 2 and were found to relate to changes in all the drinking parameters. Permissive versus abstinence attitudes were not found to differ between groups, but for all subjects higher abstinence attitude scores were found to be significantly related to decreases in peak blood alcohol concentration.

The field of marketing does not only consist of traditional marketing and the focus on promoting products and services to increase sales. In recent years a new branch within the marketing field has been established with the focus of promoting behaviours that will benefit the individual and the society as a whole; social marketing. Our purpose with this paper is not only to introduce the reader to social marketing but to describe and explain how social marketing campaigns are created and how the campaigns can be evaluated. The purpose is fulfilled through the use of a qualitative method, namely a case study. Our research question guiding our study is “How can social marketing be understood through the use of an empirical case study?” Our unit of study is the Swedish company IQ-initiativet AB which uses social marketing as a tool to encourage responsible drinking among Swedes. In order to uncover the case of IQ and to answer our research question we used three subquestions. Firstly “How can a social marketing campaign be recognized?”, secondly “How is a social marketing campaign created?” and finally “How is a social marketing campaign evaluated?” To adapt these sub-questions to IQ we performed four in-depth interviews with representatives from IQ, their PR-firm Forsman &amp; Bodenfors and evaluation company Xtreme Nordic. The questions mainly concerned IQ’s national campaigns, which have been shown through various media channels. An interview was also done with the organization IOGT-NTO who promotes a completely sober society in order to get a perspective of the current situation of alcohol consumption in Sweden. From interviews, other sources and earlier research within the field we conclude that even though social marketing is about behavioral change, creating that change is difficult and evaluating an eventual change is even more difficult. IQ focuses on promoting responsibledrinking but cannot link a change in reduced drinking to their specific campaigns. However that does not stop them to do their job. With this case we provide in-depth insight into how one Swedish organization works for healthier drinking behavior. Although the case does not provide empirical generalizations, it provides theoretical contributions that are beneficial for several different stakeholders. Social marketers, campaign organizers/evaluators, commercial marketers and students can benefit from this comprehensive review of social marketing theory and view how it has been appliedin the real life case of IQ. A comprehensive analysis of social marketing is presented in order to increase awareness of the tools that are available for promoting positive behavioral changes in society. The case of IQ exhibits fully functional social marketing campaigns which facilitates understanding and learning for readers by viewing theory in action. The work presented here promotes the development of problem solving skills in order to avoid the common difficulties related to social marketing campaigns and hopes to inspire those interested in future research opportunities.

Distinct alcohol self-administration behaviors are observed when comparing two F1 hybrid strains of mice: C57BL/6J x NZB/B1NJ (B6xNZB) show reduced alcohol preference (RAP) after experience with high concentrations of alcohol and abstinence periods and C57BL/6J x FVB/NJ (B6xFVB) show sustained alcohol preference (SAP), providing models of stable, high alcohol consumption and moderate drinking. The purpose of this dissertation is to characterize ethanol-related behaviors and define neurocircuits engaged by SAP and RAP. We performed a battery of behavioral tests to define behaviors that predict SAP and RAP. B6xFVB exhibited less severe ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion and were less sensitive to ethanol-induced loss of righting reflex (LORR) than B6xNZB. Both hybrids demonstrated ethanol-induced place preference and low ethanol withdrawal severity. Hybrids differ in sensitivity to the aversive and sedative, but not rewarding, effects of ethanol. Results of elevated plus maze, mirror chamber, and locomotor tests reveal B6xFVB mice are less anxious and more active than B6xNZB mice. The validity of the SAP behavioral phenotype in B6xFVB mice was determined by testing whether chronic self-administration of ethanol produced tolerance or dependence. We measured responses from ethanol-naïve and ethanol-experienced mice in tests of ethanol-induced hypothermia, withdrawal severity, and LORR. Chronic ethanol self-administration resulted in tolerance to sedative and hypothermic effects of ethanol; however, physical dependence was not evident as measured by ethanol withdrawal severity. We tested the hypothesis that SAP and RAP behavioral differences are represented by differential production of the inducible transcription factor, FosB. FosB immunoreactivity was quantified in 16 brain structures after chronic ethanol consumption or only water. Neuronal activity (as measured by FosB levels) depended on ethanol experience, brain region, and genotype, further supporting the notion that neuronal circuitry underlies motivational aspects of ethanol consumption. For B6xNZB mice, ethanol consumption resulted in increased neuronal activity in the EW, VTA, and amygdala, known ethanol- reward-, and stress-related brain regions. In B6xFVB, ethanol consumption resulted in a larger network of correlated regional activity, whereas in B6xNZB ethanol consumption resulted in a smaller network. These studies characterized genetic models of stable, high consumption (SAP) and moderate drinking (RAP) in two hybrid mouse strains. / text

The aim of this study was to examine the spread of the dependence on alcohol, smoking and internet and to estimate their connection with psychosocial state among the population of the students of vocational schools. Materials and methods. 395 students between 17-22 years old from Kaunas vocational schools took part in the survey the data of which has been analysed in this study. The habits related to alcohol, smoking and internet were assessed anonymously using the method of frequentative testing and Fagerstrom and AUDIT questionnaire developed for the research of these dependencies. The averages of the sample indications and standard errors of calculations were estimated whilst analysing the data. The criterion of the student (t) was used to compare the average variables of the independent samples. Independency of indications was checked with the help of chi square (x) criterion. Associations are considered to be statistically significant if p < 0,05. Results. After the habits of alcohol consumption had been estimated , it was defined that 89 % of male and 92.1 % of female respondents had tried alcohol and the bigger part of them (40.5%) had used alcohol 1-2 times a month. The most popular drink among girls is champagne ( 33.3 % ) and among boys – wine (50%). The examination of the smoking habits have shown that 79.7 % of girls and 83.8 % of boys have tried to smoke. 15.4% of girls and 33.5 % of boys have smoked 20-29 days during the last month. After examining the habits... [to full text]

Introduction: Adolescents in the United States use alcohol more than any other substance, including tobacco and marijuana. Continuing alcohol misuse has numerous adverse health effects and is linked to liver disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurological damage. Furthermore, alcohol consumption is a significant risk factor for unsafe sexual behaviors, unintentional injuries, physical and sexual assaults, various types of illegal activities, and suicide (USDHHS, 2007). Aim: The purpose of this study is to compare the individual social indicators from 4 categories that have been identified within the literature as being particularly associated with alcohol consumption in general, and underage alcohol consumption in particular. The categories used were: drinking consequences, urbanicity, poverty, and alcohol outlet density. The social indicators in these categories will be compared in the 10 most-at-risk counties (MAR) and the 10 least-at-risk counties (LAR), and the 20 MAR counties and the 20 LAR counties, as they relate to underage alcohol consumption. Methods: The counties were identified in and data was obtained from Governor’s Cooperative Agreement State Incentive Planning and Development Grant: Social Indicator Study to Assess Substance Use Prevention Needs at the State and County Levels in Georgia. An independent 2-tailed t-test was conducted to compare the means of groups in both the 10 MAR/LAR counties and the 20 MAR/LAR counties. Results: Significant differences were observed in all of the individual indicators in the poverty and alcohol outlet density categories for both the 10 MAR/LAR counties and the 20 MAR/LAR counties. Discussion: There needs to be a more accurate, specific and efficient methods of data surveillance concerning underage drinking behavior. Further research should focus on urbanicity, poverty, and alcohol outlet density as they relate to underage alcohol consumption. There were differences observed between the MAR and LAR counties in all of the poverty alcohol outlet density indicators, and researchers and policy makers should pay special attention to these two areas when designing further research and prevention policies.