Consuming alcohol can affect the mental and physical health, lead toaddiction and affect the development of the brain before the age of 25.Nevertheless binge drinking remains a widespread problem amongstuniversity students. Drinking norms in people's surroundings can affect theirdrinking habits. This study aims to understand why students consume alcohol and the apprehension of the drinking norm on a campus by doing semi-structured interviews with eight students who are living on a campus. The data is analysed through Theory of Planned behaviour and the focal pointsare injunctive, descriptive norms and associations. The result shows thatcampus students consume alcohol because they think it is fun, it helps themsocialize and to avoid or let go of stressful things and negative thoughts. Wecan interpret from the interviews that the drinking norm on campus is thatstudents are expected to drink alcohol at social events. The result also showsthat students tend to value the positive effects of drinking alcohol more thanthe negative consequences. The interviewed students had more mutualpositive associations towards drinking than mutual negative associationswhich implies that drinking norms affects drinking habits and associationstowards drinking.

Background: As the majority of studies examining mental health during the pandemic are cross-sectional, little is known about the changes in mental health during the pandemic, especially in university students. Most studies indicate a worsening of mental health conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of German university students during the third wave of the pandemic in 2021 and to compare the results to a sample of a congruent cross-sectional study from 2020. Methods: Two cross-sectional and anonymous online surveys among university students were conducted (first survey: July-August 2020, N = 3,382; second survey: March-April 2021, N = 5,642). Mental health status was assessed with standardized measures (depressive symptoms, alcohol and drug consumption, and eating disorder symptoms), and social and emotional aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed. In addition to descriptive statistics and group comparisons of the two survey samples from 2020 and 2021, respectively, risk and protective factors related to mental health were analyzed. Results: There were significant differences in severities of depressive symptoms and alcohol and drug consumption between the two online surveys from 2020 and 2021. Findings suggest an increase in the severity of depressive symptoms as well as alcohol and drug consumption. Significantly more respondents reported suicidal ideation in the survey from 2021. Lower self-efficacy, less social support and lower resilience as well as higher perceived stress and more loneliness were reported by the participants of the survey from 2021 compared to 2020. Regarding factors predicting mental health symptoms, being female was a positive predictor for hazardous alcohol use and anorexia nervosa in comparison to men. Further, younger age, being diverse, higher perceived stress and loneliness were positive predictors for all mental health outcomes. Conclusion: This study reveals an increase in severities of depressive symptoms, including suicidal ideation, drug and alcohol consumption among students. Being diverse, younger age, higher perceived stress and loneliness were mutual risk factors for higher depressive and eating disorder symptoms as well as alcohol consumption. Universities and health care policy should recognize and address mental health issues of young adults during ongoing times of crisis and invest in easy-to-access interventions.

Los adolescentes adquieren alcohol por fácil accesibilidad y desconocimiento sobre sus efectos. El objetivo general fue determinar el conocimiento sobre efectos del consumo de alcohol en adolescentes de secundaria de una institución educativa privada del distrito de Pimentel, 2023. Estudio cuantitativo, no experimental, transeccional y descriptivo. La población fueron 145 adolescentes, y la muestra 106; el muestreo fue probabilístico-estratificado, aleatorio simple. El instrumento utilizado fue: “Cuestionario de conocimientos sobre los efectos del consumo de alcohol”, con una validación por índice de Kappa de 0,6 (moderado); para medir su confiabilidad, se realizó una prueba piloto con 30 adolescentes y se obtuvo el coeficiente de 0.823 (Kudder - Richardson). Asimismo, se consideró los principios éticos del informe Belmont. El cuestionario comprendió 25 ítems, con una sección de datos generales y 3 relacionadas con las dimensiones de la variable. El procesamiento y análisis de datos se desarrolló con el programa de Microsoft Excel 2019, y con la estadística descriptiva se calcularon frecuencias relativas y absolutas, presentándose en tablas y gráficos de barras. Los resultados obtenidos fueron: conocimiento medio sobre los efectos del consumo de alcohol en 72.64%; conocimiento alto en la dimensión organismo (45.3%); conocimiento bajo en la dimensión rendimiento académico (42%) y conocimiento medio en la dimensión familia (92%). Se concluye que la mayoría de los adolescentes tienen conocimiento medio sobre los efectos del consumo de alcohol, centrándose más en los efectos en el organismo; esto se debe a que no obtienen una información completa sobre el tema. / Adolescents acquire alcohol due to easy accessibility and lack of knowledge about its effects. The general objective was to determine knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption in high school adolescents from a private educational institution in the district of Pimentel, 2023. Quantitative, non-experimental, transectional and descriptive study. The population was 145 adolescents, and the sample was 106; The sampling was probabilistic-stratified, simple random. The instrument used was: “Knowledge questionnaire about the effects of alcohol consumption”, with a validation by Kappa index of 0.6 (moderate); To measure its reliability, a pilot test was carried out with 30 adolescents and the coefficient of 0.823 (Kudder - Richardson) was obtained. Likewise, the ethical principles of the Belmont report were considered. The questionnaire included 25 items, with a general data section and 3 related to the dimensions of the variable. Data processing and analysis was developed with the Microsoft Excel 2019 program, and with descriptive statistics, relative and absolute frequencies were calculated, presented in tables and bar graphs. The results obtained were: average knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption in 72.64%; high knowledge in the organism dimension (45.3%); low knowledge in the academic performance dimension (42%) and medium knowledge in the family dimension (92%). It is concluded that the majority of adolescents have average knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption, focusing more on the effects on the body; This is because they do not obtain complete information on the subject.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att genom en litteraturstudie vidare utforska området kontrollerat drickande. Olika behandlingsmetoder för alkoholberoende kräver olika behandlingsmål. Ett vanligt behandlingsmål är helnykterhet. Ett antagande bland många är att helnykterhet är det enda tänkbara målet för alkoholberoende personer. Ett antagande som är utbrett än idag. Bakgrunden till detta resonemang är att alkoholberoende ses som en livslång och kronisk sjukdom. Kontrollerat drickande har varit och är ett kontroversiellt ämne. Tidigare forskning har identifierat faktorer eller prediktorer kopplade till utfallet av kontrollerat drickande. En framträdande prediktor har exempelvis varit alkoholberoendets svårighetsgrad. Senare forskning verkar också ge stöd till att beroendegraden har betydelse för möjligheten att uppnå ett kontrollerat drickande. Dock så har två presenterade studier med uppföljningsperioder under ett år inte hittat detta samband. Andra prediktorer är en hög alkoholkonsumtion innan behandling och alkoholism inom familjen. Det verkar dock som att vissa alkoholberoende personer kan reducera sin alkoholkonsumtion och uppnå ett kontrollerat drickande. Dessutom kan en kontrollerad konsumtion upprätthållas vid uppföljningsperioder på ett år eller mer. Dessa resulta diskuteras vidare i detta examensarbete. / The aim of this thesis is to research and explore the subject of controlled drinking further through a literature review. Different treatments for alcohol use disorders require different treatment goals. Some dictate that abstinence is the only feasible goal among people suffering from alcohol use disorders. This assumption appears to be prevalent still today. Behind this reasoning is the assumption that alcoholism is a lifelong and chronic disease. Controlled drinking sparked a lot of controversy during early research on the subject. Past research has identified factors, or predictors, associated with controlled drinking outcome. One emerging predictor has been the severity of dependence. According to subsequent research, the severity of dependence appears to be a predictor of success with controlled drinking. On the other hand, two studies obtained, with shorter follow up periods during one year, did not find this association. Other predictors that have been identified are past alcohol use and a family history of alcoholism. It still appears that some individuals suffering from alcohol use disorders can reduce their drinking to moderate drinking and maintain it through follow up through one year and more. These findings are further discussed in this thesis.

In the UK there has been growing concern about the relationship between levels of alcohol consumption and offending behaviour. The Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR) was introduced to the UK in 2007 and was piloted in a District in the north of England in July 2007. The ATR is a coercive form of treatment delivered jointly by the probation service and the National Health Service (NHS) and was funded by the NHS. The ATR centres on supporting offenders to cease their offending behaviour and reduce or end their alcohol misuse. Two female alcohol treatment workers have been appointed to specifically deliver the ATR. Therefore this study aimed to investigate the delivery of the ATR, and more specifically, aimed to explore what impact the ATR might have in relation to positive behaviour change and rehabilitation for offenders with alcohol problems. In order to meet the expectations of producing ¿outcome¿ data for the NHS funders, and indepth theoretical data worthy of an academic PhD, this research took a pragmatic methodological approach which enabled different social realities of the ATR to be explored. To this end, a mixed methods design was employed involving quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The data for this research was generated in three phases with Phase One aiming to explore quantitatively the characteristics, impacts and outcomes of those sentenced to the ATR. This phase revealed that the ATR is being delivered to predominantly young, male, alcohol dependent, violent, persistent offenders. This analysis further revealed that the ATR was effective in bringing about positive treatment outcomes and in reducing reoffending. In order to explore further how this positive change was occurring, Phase Two consisted of qualitative participant observations of the treatment interaction involving the female alcohol treatment workers and the male offenders. By drawing on positioning theory, the analysis considered the complexity of the gendered interactions that occurred during these encounters. It was found that the two female alcohol treatment workers resisted positions of ¿feminine carer¿ offered up by these young men in order to occupy positions of control. Indeed this analysis provided great insight into the constant flow of negotiations and manoeuvring of positions that occurred between the alcohol treatment worker and the offender, argued to be vitally important in working towards positive behaviour change. During Phase Three ten offenders were interviewed in order to explore through a dialogical lens (Bakhtin, 1982) how they constructed and experienced treatment on the ATR. In exploring the offenders¿ stories dialogically, the analysis highlighted how the ATR was enabling, in that it offered a ¿space¿ for these offenders to engage and internalise a dialogue that draws on the authoritative voice of therapy. Therefore it was revealed that through dialogue with the ¿other¿, offenders were able to re-author a more ¿moral¿ and ¿worthy¿ self. Moreover, the ATR has been found to be successful in enabling the offenders¿ hegemonic masculine identities to be both challenged and protected as a result of the multilayered interactions that occurred during these treatment encounters. This research therefore concludes that coercive treatment, rather than being a concern, should be embraced as a way of enabling change for offenders with alcohol problems. Furthermore, this research has highlighted the value of the relational aspect of treatment in bringing about positive behaviour changes. Finally this research has shown that community sentences offer a more constructive way of engaging with offenders than those who receive a custodial sentence.

Darbe nagrinėjama alkoholio vartojimo problemų turinčių asmenų gyvenimo kokybės kitimas atsižvelgiant į tai, kokius gydimo metodus jie pasirenka šiai problemai spręsti. Didžiausias dėmesys skiriamas AA grupių įtakai gyvenimo kokybei ir jos kitimui. Ši problematika Lietuvoje mažai tyrinėta, tačiau dėl alkoholio vartojimo masto Lietuvoje ir pasaulyje yra pakankamai aktuali. Darbe buvo iškeltas tikslas ištirti AA grupių įtaką alkoholio vartojimo problemų turinčių asmenų gyvenimo kokybės kitimui. Darbo tikslui pasiekti analizuota alkoholio vartojimo problemų turinčių asmenų lankiusių ir nelankiusių anoniminių alkoholikų grupes gyvenimo kokybė, jos kitimas ir vertybių bei gydymo metodo įtaka jai. Manoma, kad alkoholio vartojimo problemų turinčių asmenų, lankiusių anoniminių alkoholikų grupes, gyvenimo kokybė pagerėjo labiau, palyginus su tais kurie tų grupių nelankė arba buvo viena-du kartus ir daugiau nelankė. Darbo tikslui pasiekti naudota PSO gyvenimo kokybės klausimynas (WHOQOL-BREF; angl. The World Health Organization Quality of Life – Bref, 1996), gyvenimo vertybių įvertinimas pagal Goštautą A, Javtoką Z, Žagminą K. (2001) ir gydymo metodo įvertinimas sudarytas pačios darbo autorės. Tyrime dalyvavo aliejų lyčių, nuo 18 iki 69 m. amžiaus, įvairios šeiminės, užimtumo, profesinės padėties ir išsilavinimo, šiuo metu besigydantys lankydami AA grupę, Minesotos programą ir medikamentiniu gydymusi, asmenys. Tyrimas parodė, kad asmenų, nepriklausomai nuo lyties, kurie turi problemų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This Paper deals with changing quality of life of the people with alcohol problems, depending on what treatment methods they choose to tackle this problem. The main focus is made on the impact of AA groups to quality of life and the changes thereof. This problem has been little researched in Lithuania; however, due to the consumed alcohol level in Lithuania and world widely this issue is sufficiently relevant. The objective of the Paper is to examine the impact of AA groups to the change of the quality of life of people who have alcohol-consuming problems. For the purpose of the Objective the quality of life and of the people with alcohol-consuming problems who attended AA groups and who not attended AA groups and the change of their quality of life were analysed, as well as the values and the impact of treatment methods on it were explored. It is estimated that the quality of life of the people with alcohol-consuming problems, who attended alcoholics anonymous groups, improved more in comparison with those who did not attend these groups or those visited them once or twice and did not attend them constantly. In order to reveal the Objective of the Paper, the WHO Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF; in Eng. The World Health Organization Quality of Life – Bref, 1996), the evaluation of the life values according to Goštautas A, Javtokas Z, Žagminas K. (2001) and the evaluation of treatment method, composed by the author herself, were used. The research included persons... [to full text]

As societies across the world are facing grim problems regarding the consumption of tobacco products and alcohol, the Governments of these societies are adapting their strategies to reduce the consumption of these harmful products. These demarketing strategies are implemented to discourage the use of these products and increase the health of consumers. These strategies include a strenuous legal limit when driving under the influence of alcohol, enforcing the placement of warning labels on both cigarette packages as well as alcoholic beverages. Also included are penalties when failing to adhere to these laws, increasing prices, limiting the availability, restricting promotion and advertising, the list goes on. It is therefore seen fit to examine the attitudes of black Generation Y students’ towards the demarketing of smoking and alcohol consumption, because of the research gap concerning black Generation Y students. The primary purpose of this research study was to conclude the attitudes towards the demarketing of smoking and alcohol consumption amongst black Generation Y students within South Africa, and more specifically the Vaal Triangle region. The target population for this study comprised black Generation Y students, aged 18 to 24. A non-probability convenience sample of 200 respondents at each of the two higher education institutions was randomly chosen to participate in this research study making the total sample size 400. A self-administered questionnaire was handed out to each of the respondents to complete. The questionnaire consisted of three sections; Section A – demographical information, Section B – tobacco questionnaire and Section C – alcohol questionnaire. It was required of the respondents to complete the three sections, indicating their agreement or disagreement towards demarketing on a five-point Likert scale. The literature review included in this study comprised marketing as an organisational philosophy and function, market segmentation, targeting and positioning, as well as demarketing. The traditional marketing mix, consumption patterns within South Africa concerning smoking and alcohol, demarketing as a form of social responsibility were also discussed. The term demarketing, the marketing mix in terms of demarketing and the Generation Y cohort were also included within the literature review. The main finding obtained from the main survey questionnaire was that black Generation Y students’ had a positive attitude towards the demarketing of smoking and alcohol consumption. The remaining findings obtained are discussed in order to enhance the understanding of the black Generation Y students’ cohort attitudes. The recommendations for this study are given to guide the successful implementation of demarketing of cigarettes and alcohol. It is concluded from the research, that black Generation Y students’ attitudes towards the demarketing of smoking and alcohol consumption is positive, and that they are in favour of persuading consumers to reduce consumption and ultimately quit the consumption of these products. Therefore, organisations and the Government should continue to implement these demarketing strategies towards smoking and alcohol, especially amongst the black Generation Y students. / Thesis (MCom (Marketing management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Background: Russia has undergone tremendous socioeconomic transformations. Particularly detrimental was the period of 1990-s that evidenced hazardous trends in public health. Alcohol consumption was suggested to be responsible for the negative health trends in the society. Male alcohol consumption attracted disproportional attention leaving female alcohol consumption, its predictors and influence on women’s health disregarded and uninvestigated. Aim: To describe the practices of female alcohol consumption and socio-demographic predictors of drinking, to explore the impact that drinking might have on the self-rated health of Russian women. Method: Cross-sectional analysis of data drawn from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, round 20th. The association tests between the measures of alcohol consumption and covariates were run. Ordinal regression model tested the predictors of self-rated health.      Results: A Russian female drinker is middle-aged, high-educated, married/ cohabiting or divorced, resides from the urban area and is infrequent drinker. The frequency of drinking increases when she is young, high-educated, married/ cohabiting, resides from urban area. U-shaped relation between drinking and self-rated health was demonstrated: never drinkers and regular drinkers report poorer health than seldom-drinkers.  Conclusion: Predictors of female drinking in Russia are poorly investigated due to overrepresentation of research focused on men’s drinking. More studies are needed in order to explore the impact of drinking on self-rated health of  Russian women.

Objectives: Violence victimization is common in youth, and the association between victimization and ill-health is well established. Youth is also the period when alcohol risk drinking is most prevalent. At youth clinics in Västernorrland, Sweden, a randomized controlled intervention was conducted examining health outcomes and risk drinking after implementing routine inquiry about violence victimization and alcohol consumption. Methods: Participants in the intervention group underwent routine inquiry about violence victimization and alcohol consumption. Victimized participants received empowering strategies and were offered further counseling. Risk drinkers received motivational interviewing (MI). All participants answered questionnaires about sociodemography and health at baseline, at 3 months and at 12 months. Of 1,445 eligible young women, 1,051 (73%) participated, with 54% of them completing the 12-month follow-up. Males were excluded from the quantitative analysis owing to the low number of male participants. Fifteen research interviews examining the experience of routine inquiry were conducted. Results: Violence-victimized young women reported more ill health than non-victimized women did. This was especially evident for those who had been multiply victimized. There were no differences in health outcomes between the baseline and the 12-month follow-up for the intervention group and for the control group. Of the victimized women in the intervention group, 14% wanted and received further counseling. There was a significant decrease in risk drinking from baseline to follow-up, but no differences between the MI group and the controls. There was a large intra-individual mobility in the young women’s drinking behavior. In interviews, the participants described how questions about violence had helped them to process prior victimization. For some, this initiated changes such as leaving a destructive relationship or starting therapy. The participants considered risk drinking in terms of consequences and did not find unit-based guidelines useful. Conclusion: Violence victimization, especially multiple victimization, was strongly associated with ill health in young women. Routine inquiry about violence and subsequent follow-up led to a high degree of disclosure but did not improve self-reported health. However, victimized participants described talking about prior victimization as very helpful. Participants viewed risk drinking in terms of consequences rather than in quantity or frequency of alcohol, which may render unit-based drinking guidelines less useful when addressing risk drinking in youth.

How do the content and writing style of people who drink alcohol beverages stand out from non-drinkers? How much information can we learn about a person's alcohol consumption behavior by reading text that they have authored? This thesis attempts to extend the methods deployed in authorship attribution and authorship profiling research into the domain of automatically identifying the human action of drinking alcohol beverages. I examine how a psycholinguistics dictionary (the Linguistics Inquiry and Word Count lexicon, developed by James Pennebaker), together with Kenneth Burke's concept of words as symbols of human action, and James Wertsch's concept of mediated action provide a framework for analyzing meaningful data patterns from the content of blogs written by consumers of alcohol beverages. The contributions of this thesis to the research field are twofold. First, I show that it is possible to automatically identify blog posts that have content related to the consumption of alcohol beverages. And second, I provide a framework and tools to model human behavior through text analysis of blog data.