This thesis interprets student culture as a vehicle to understanding college drinking. It presents the findings of an ethnographic study of college drinking culture as experienced by college women. Particular emphasis is placed on age and gender variations within the student culture which significantly impact drinking beliefs and behavior. The subject of this study is the meanings of drinking in student culture. The findings suggest that university alcohol policy should speak to and from student culture, rather than to and from university administrative values. Based on the meanings of drinking in student culture, suggestions are made toward formulating a more effective university alcohol policy. / Department of Anthropology

Much empirical evidence attests to a strong relationship between the panic-related disorders and alcoholism. Recent data suggest that anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety) may be one common underlying vailable contributing to the large degree of overlap between the panic-related disorders and alcoholism. In fact, some data indicate that the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and alcohol misuse may be particularly strong in women, a group which is generally underrepresented in the alcoholism etiology literature. Research described in this thesis was conducted with the aim of further elucidating the nature of the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and alcohol use/abuse in young adult women. The series of seven experiments included in this thesis demonstrated that: (1) high levels of anxiety sensitivity are characteristic of subjects meeting diagnostic criteria for panic disorder, an anxiety disorder frequently associated with alcohol abuse; (2) female university students demonstrate significantly higher average levels of anxiety sensitivity than male university students; (3) anxiety sensitivity is an important predictor of self-reported rates of alcohol consumption in university women; (4) high anxiety sensitive university students are both more likely to report drinking alcohol primarily to "cope" with negative emotional states, and less likely to report drinking alcohol primarily for social-affiliative motives, than are low anxiety sensitive university students; (5) high anxiety sensitive women display greater degrees of sober subjective-emotional arousal when anticipating aversive stimulation, greater degrees of sober electrodermal reactivity to the aversive stimulation, and greater sensitivity to the dampening effects of alcohol on these measures of reactivity, than low anxiety sensitive controls; (6) high anxiety sensitive women show a sober attentional bias favoring the processing of physically threatening information, which is dampened through th

At present, there is speculation that women's alcohol use is a growing biomedical concern. Whilst not dismissing the potential health problems from excessive alcohol use by women that the evidence suggests, this thesis does not necessarily take the view that women's alcohol use/abuse is merely a reflection of a biomedical concern. Drawing predominantly from feminist tools of analysis, this thesis examines the discourse of alcohol use/abuse and reveals that mainstream interpretations of the epidemiological evidence are informed by an underlying sexism inherent in the research process itself. However, it is also argued that although popular interpretations can be contested on the grounds of sexism, there is a significant body of evidence that suggests women suffer more alcohol-related biological harm than men do. Given that epidemiological researchers are evidently observing something organically manifest, something perfectly correlative with the popular representation of a female vulnerability to alcohol related harm, this investigation cannot be reduced to the realm of cultural analysis and interpretation. The question then emerges, how can cultural assumptions that guide interpretations of the evidence become biologically manifest? Upon deeper reflection, this investigation turns its attention to relations of power and reveals the biological body and the discourses that produce it to be more closely aligned than generally presumed. This thesis argues that nature (the body) and culture (discourse) are not inherently oppositional, thus, the way we "conceptualise" the world must be inseparable from the "matter" under investigation. Based on this revelation, it is reasonable to consider that normalising discourse, which founds the meaning-making process of alcohol use, is not simply a re-presentation of the natural/organic world, but is constitutive of, and inherently writing the biological world it describes. Thus, rather than erecting material/conceptual borders that reinforce the polarisation of the nature/culture division, this thesis proposes a way to think difference more generously, in a way that allows for a closer reconciliation of the historical division between the "theory" and the "lived" experience.

Bibliography: leaves 540-587 / xxii, 587 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, 1988

abstract: Adolescent and young adult alcohol use is a major public health concern given that it is the most widely used substance by teenagers. This is particularly concerning given the important biological and environmental changes that occur during this developmental period. Therefore, it is not surprising that alcohol use in adolescence is associated with a variety of negative outcomes including alcohol-related consequences, poor academic performance, aggression, and difficulty transitioning to adulthood. Because of this, it is imperative to better understand alcohol use during this time. While there are numerous measures that aim to capture adolescent alcohol use, there is not currently a measure that gathers comprehensive information on alcohol use across adolescence and into early adulthood. Therefore, we developed the Comprehensive Adolescent Drinking History Form (CADHF). The CADHF gathers detailed drinking information for each year since the onset of first regular use, including quantity and frequency of both regular use and periods of heaviest drinking. Additionally, the CADHF collects information on the participants' aggregate drinking experiences between their age of onset and age of first regular use. Using a sample of young adults who completed an alcohol challenge study, we sought to examine (1) whether route of administration of the measure impacts results, (2) which CADHF are most useful, and (3) whether the CADHF shows concurrent, convergent, and incremental validity. Results showed that, the CADHF can be administered online or over the phone and all eight indices provide valuable information depending on the research question. Additionally, strong significant correlations between the CADHF with the Timeline Follow Back (TLFB) and the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (YAACQ) suggest convergent and concurrent validity. Finally, the CADHF predicted concurrent and future alcohol-related problems over and above the gold standards of alcohol consumption measures; age of onset, age of first intoxication, and the TLFB. This is the first study to retrospectively assess participant's comprehensive alcohol consumption and fills a major gap in the literature. The CADHF has the potential to inform the timing of prevention and intervention efforts and provides unique information from the current gold standards of alcohol consumption measures. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2017

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-08-24Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:17:54Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 pereira_pl_me_botfm.pdf: 520294 bytes, checksum: c6a563ab07f44eb69ac9908419929723 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O uso do álcool associa-se a problemas significativos para a saúde pública em diversos países. Estudos indicam que a média de idade para início do uso é em torno de 12,5 anos, um dado alarmante, já que o uso de álcool na adolescência está associado a uma série de comportamentos de risco. Objetivo: Estimar a prevalência do uso de bebidas alcoólicas pelos alunos do ensino fundamental e médio no município de Botucatu na vida e no último ano; analisar a associação entre o uso de álcool e uso de álcool de risco com variáveis sociodemográficas, uso de substâncias psicoativas pelo sujeito, familiares e amigos e comportamentos violentos. Metodologia: Estudo transversal, realizado com 1,507 estudantes (2007; 2008), onde foram coletados dados: sociodemográficos, de uso de álcool pelos estudantes, familiares e amigos, uso de outras drogas e comportamentos de violência. Foram utilizados vários instrumentos incluindo o Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test C – AUDIT C, que identifica uso de álcool de risco. Inicialmente foram realizadas as análises descritivas, seguida de análises univariadas entre possíveis fatores de risco de uso de álcool no último ano e uso pesado de álcool de acordo com o AUDIT C (com ponto de corte ≥ 4 para homens, e ≥ 3 para mulheres) por meio do teste Qui-quadrado. Por fim foi realizada a análise multivariada, onde as variáveis cuja associação na análise univariada tiveram obtido p≤0,25 foram incluídas no modelo de regressão logística, obtendo-se assim as razões de chances ajustadas (Odds Ratio). A análise dos dados foi realizada com auxílio do programa STATA 10.0. Resultados: A prevalência de uso de álcool na vida encontrada no presente estudo foi de 38,8% entre estudantes do ensino fundamental... / In many countries, alcohol use is significantly associated with public health problems. Studies indicate that the average age for onset of use is around 12.5 years, an alarming fact, since alcohol use in adolescence is associated with a number of risk behaviors. Objective: To estimate the lifetime and previous year prevalence of alcohol use by junior and high school students in Botucatu, to analyze the association between alcohol use and risk alcohol use and: sociodemographic variables, tobacco and illicit substance use by the students, first degree family members and friends and violent behavior. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 1.507 students (2007 to 2008), and data were collected: on sociodemographic variables, alcohol use and misuse by students, family members and friends, use of illicit drugs, tobacco and violent behavior. A range of instruments was used including the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test C - AUDIT C, which identifies risk alcohol use. Descriptive analysis was performed followed by univariate analysis of possible risk factors for alcohol use in the previous year and heavy alcohol use according to the AUDIT C score (cutoff ≥ 4 for men, and ≥ 3 for women) through the chi-square test. Finally, a multivariate analysis was performed, and the variables whose association in the univariate analyses were ≤ 0.25 were included in the logistic regression model, thus obtaining the adjusted odds ratios. Data analysis was performed using STATA 10.0 software. Results: The prevalence of lifetime alcohol use found was 38.8% among junior high school students and 73.5% among high school students. The use of... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

abstract: Alcohol use disorders and internalizing disorders are highly comorbid in adults, but how this comorbidity unfolds over development is not well understood. Previous retrospective studies in adults have shown that internalizing problems are associated with a rapid transition from first drink and first regular drinking to the onset of alcohol dependence. Some results also suggest that internalizing is a stronger predictor of rapid transitions through later stages of alcohol involvement, but these stage-specific effects have not been explicitly tested. The present study utilized a prospective dataset to investigate effects of adolescent internalizing symptoms on speed of transition through multiple stages of alcohol involvement. Specifically, it was hypothesized that greater early internalizing symptoms would predict a later age of first drink, a slower transition from first drink to first binge, and a faster transition from first binge to first dependence symptom. The moderating effects of gender were also examined. Data were from a longitudinal study of children of alcoholics and matched controls (n = 454) followed from late childhood to mid-life. Linear regression and Cox regression were the primary analytic strategies. Covariates were externalizing symptoms, family history of alcohol use disorders, and gender. Analyses also controlled for age at which the participant entered each interval. Generally, stage-specific hypotheses concerning the effects of internalizing were not supported. Internalizing symptoms marginally predicted an earlier age of first drink and a faster transition from first binge to first dependence symptom, and significantly predicted a faster transition through the overall interval from first drink to first dependence symptom. Internalizing was a stronger predictor of rapid transitions for women, and the effects of internalizing were not specific to early or later stages of alcohol involvement among women. These results suggest that early internalizing problems are a general risk factor for a rapid transition through all stages of alcohol involvement, and this risk may be stronger for women than for men. These results have important implications for our theoretical understanding of the relationship between internalizing problems and alcohol use disorders as well as prevention and intervention efforts targeting these problems. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2014

This longitudinal investigation examined motives for alcohol use, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related consequences in a Vancouver, British Columbia youth sample (n = 405). Secondary analyses were performed on data that were collected at two time points (1995-1996 and 2003-2004). Sociodemographic variables included age, gender, adoption status, parent education, household moves, and family net worth. Bivariate correlations and structural equation modeling were used to examine associations between social, enhancement, and coping motives, alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences. The social motives included drinking to be sociable and drinking to add to the enjoyment of meals. Enhancement motives included drinking to feel good. Coping motives included: drinking to help you relax, drinking to forget worries, and drinking to feel less shy and inhibited. In the final longitudinal structural equation model combining T1 motives and both T1 and T2 alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences, results showed endorsement at T1 of drinking to forget worries was predictive of the alcohol-related consequences latent factor at T1. Moreover, T1 consequences were predictive of alcohol-related consequences at T2. The data show a positive relationship between T1 endorsement of drinking to feel good and the alcohol consumption latent variables at both T1 and T2, but no relationship between drinking to feel good and the alcohol-related consequences emerged. Additionally, the data yielded a negative relationship between the variable, “drink to be sociable” and the alcohol-related consequences latent factor at T1. Certain self-identified motives for drinking may be risk factors for continued alcohol use and subsequent misuse. Therefore, differentiating between specific motives for alcohol use may be a helpful marker for Child and Youth Care workers and other professionals to initiate conversations about alcohol use and consequences. / Graduate

Class of 2005 Abstract / Objectives: Describe the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco use in college women who use emergency contraception (EC) or oral contraceptives. Methods: This study was a descriptive, retrospective study that utilized patient charts to obtain clinical data including emergency contraception utilization, hormonal contraception utilization, alcohol and tobacco use. The primary dependent variables were smoking status and alcohol use. The overall prevalence of alcohol and tobacco use was calculated by counting the total number and percentage for each substance. Determining if descriptive variables vary according to type of contraception, groups were compared using a t-test for independent groups and a Chi square, respectively. The a priori alpha level is 0.05. Results: The most important finding in this study is students that obtained EC reported drinking alcohol at a significantly higher level than students who used hormonal contraception. 49% of students who used EC reported drinking 5 or more drinks a week. The data for the alcohol use was the only data that was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). In this study 22% of students who requested EC had unprotected sex. A positive result seen in this study was that only 2% of the EC students requested EC more than once in the spring semester. Freshman composed 54% of the students that used EC during this study. Other data that was of interest was that 33% of students that used EC were currently using oral contraception but only 25% claimed that oral contraception incompliance was the reason for EC utilization. Implications: Prevalence of alcohol use is significantly higher in students who use EC than students who used hormonal contraception. This leads to the conclusion that students that use alcohol are more likely to engage in unprotected sex and therefore request EC. This study also has shown that nurses and physicians need to get more accurate information from students regarding tobacco and alcohol use.

Sexual minorities consistently report more alcohol use than heterosexual individuals, and sexual minority women tend to report more alcohol use than sexual minority men (Amadio, 2006; Kerr et al., 2015; Rosario et al., 2014). Some evidence suggests that this disparity in comparison to heterosexuals may be problematic drinking, such as binge drinking and alcohol dependence, rather than just higher consumption of alcohol. Thus, it is important to examine which variables are related to problematic drinking among sexual minority women. One factor that may explain problematic drinking for sexual minority women is proximal minority stress, such as anticipated stigma (expectations of unfair treatment) and internalized stigma (negative attitudes toward the self about one’s sexual orientation) (Meyer, 2003). Previous research has found that internalized stigma predicts more problematic drinking (Feinstein & Newcomb, 2016; Lea et al., 2014). Additionally, proximal minority stress may be indirectly related to problematic drinking through variables like depression, social support, and drinking motives (Lehavot & Simoni, 2011; Lewis et al., 2016). However, findings on anticipated stigma have inconsistently shown a relationship with problematic drinking (Hatzenbuehler et al., 2008; Reisner et al., 2015). The current study tested a path analysis model examining how proximal minority stress may be related to problematic drinking among sexual minority women. Participants included 101 women who identified as lesbian, bisexual, and other non-heterosexual orientations. Participants were mainly white, and came from all regions of the United States (Northeast, South, Midwest, West). They completed the following measures: the Internalized Stigma Subscale of the Perceived Stigma Scale (Mickelson, 2001), the Discrimination Scale (adapted from Williams, 1997), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988), the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), the Drinking Motives Questionnaire (Cooper, 1994), and the AUDIT (Saunders et al., 1993). The final model tested anticipated stigma and internalized stigma as predictors of social support and depression; depression significantly predicted coping and enhancement motives, which in turn predicted problematic drinking. Age, living in the Northeast, and being a racial/ethnic minority were covariates of depression, internalized stigma and social support respectively. A path analysis conducted via EQS determined that the model had good fit (Chi-square/df = 1.10, p = 0.32, CFI = .988, SRMR = 0.082, RMSEA = .032 (90% CI [0.001, 0.082]). These results support the hypotheses that minority stress is related to more problematic drinking through depression and substance use motives. Findings could suggest that future research and interventions should examine the replacement of negative coping mechanisms, like drinking, with more positive coping mechanisms among sexual minority women.