Binge drinking has been identified as a common activity among Australian youth. This report is a study, exploring the motivational and attitudinal factors underlying binge drinking among Australian youth. The methodology used was in the form of questionnaires which was completed by group of 28 young people aged between 16 to 25 years. The questionnaire focused on their drinking behavior, their beliefs and attitudes towards binge drinking.
The present study found that binge drinking was more common in young males than in females of the same age group. Social environment encouraged binge drinking in most young people who are under the age of 18 years (under-age).The study also showed strong correlation between weekly consumption of alcohol with heavy drinking sessions.
There is a high prevalence of binge drinking rates among people aged between 16-25 years and it is rapidly increasing [1] . However, the main purpose of this report is to assess and analyse the data obtained from the questionnaire that designed to obtain an in depth idea about the attitudes towards binge drinking.
Moore et al. (1994) found that nearly a third of young people aged 18-24 and over a quarter students in full-time education engaged in binge drinking at least once a week [2] .
Binge drinking can be defined as consuming half the recommended weekly consumption of alcohol in a single session [3] . The term "binge drinking" can have different meanings, but generally it refers to drinking heavily over a short period of time with the intention of becoming heavily intoxicated.
The major limitation of this report is that it being a small study and the data collected from a group of youth who belong to same suburb and have the same peer group. However, it is not possible at this stage to state what effect this limitation may have on the generalizability of the findings of the research study.
Problem identification:
In recent years, health promotion campaigns have highlighted the negative health and social effects and binge drinking and have advocated moderate alcohol consumption. However, despite this, the knowledge of the risks of binge drinking has not translated into a reduction in binge drinking behaviour by young people. Binge drinking has started to be seen as socially acceptable, large due to media representations of drinking as 'cool' and the preponderance of celebrities showed on drunken binges. Contributing to the social acceptance of extreme drinking is the use of internet based social networking sites used to share images of drunken nights out [4]
It is a well known fact that high consumption of alcohol results in a range of adverse effects, including high blood pressure (Shaper et al, 1981), heart disease (Sherlock,1982) and cirrhosis of the liver (Colliver and Malin, 1986). While many of the adverse effects of high alcohol consumption are due to continued heavy drinking (e.g. cirrhosis of the liver, heart disease, etc.), others are more specifically related to excessive alcohol consumption in a single drinking session (e.g. unsafe sex, violence, etc) 2. According to the NHMRC, one Australian teenager dies and 60 are hospitalized each week from alcohol-related causes.
Drug info clearing house of the Australian drug foundation indicates some of the harms resulting from binge drinking:
Short term harms
Long term harms
Can be those that are immediately harmful to health such as hangover, nausea, shakiness and possibly vomiting and memory loss
Other problems can be caused by the way alcohol makes you behave. These include the risk of falls, assaults, car accidents, unplanned pregnancy, shame and embarrassment about your behavior, loss of valuable items and financial losses through reckless spending while intoxicated, or loss of income through time off work.
can include becoming physically or psychologically dependent upon alcohol, and developing liver or brain damage
risk of cancer of the mouth, throat or esophagus
Literature review:
Studying the attitudes towards binge drinking among young people was chosen as the research topic to assess and analyse as it addresses a number of the criteria for determining priorities including, incidence, severity, community support and community resources.
According to a report prepared by the National Drug Research Institute and the Centre for Adolescent Health, one in ten young people drink to harmful levels in Australia. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) 3 National Health Survey 2004-05 showed males (68%) were more likely than females (58%) to report binge drinking in the past 12 months with 14 per cent (265,000) of the young people surveyed consumed alcohol at risky or high-risk levels in the week prior to the survey (15% of males, 13% of females) (Figure 1) [5] .
Figure 1: Percentage of youth aged 18-24 years consuming alcohol at risky or high-risk levels 1995-2005
In the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 19% of young men aged 18-24 years reported that they had engaged in risky/high risk drinking at least once a week during the last 12 months. Between 1991 and 2007, for Australians aged 14 years or older, alcohol consumption patterns remained largely unchanged. Around 41% of 14 year olds consumed alcohol weekly in 1991 and it remained almost the same until 2007-08 [6] .
A study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health that 20 percent of 16 to 17 years olds surveyed of them engaged in weekly risky single occasion drinking; and, that those who accessed alcohol from sources in addition to their parents were more than twice as likely to be involved in risky single occasion drinking. This study concluded that adolescents reported increased alcohol-related problem behavior when they obtained alcohol from sources other than their parents. This study also concluded that parents need to be equipped with strategies for managing alcohol supply to their adolescent sons or daughters [7] .
In recent years, health promotion campaigns have highlighted the negative health and social effects and binge drinking and have advocated moderate alcohol consumption. However, despite this, the knowledge of the risks of binge drinking has not translated into a reduction in binge drinking behaviour by young people [8] .
Paul Norman, Paul Bennett and Helen Lewis in their research report Understanding binge drinking among young people: an application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour quoted that,
"Frequent binge drinkers were less likely to believe that the decision to engage in binge drinking was under their control and more likely to cite a range of factors which may make binge drinking more likely to occur, thus recognising a number of external influences on their drinking behaviour….2"
Methodology:
The methodology used for the research was questionnaire. Each questionnaire consisted of 18 questions that were distributed among 28 respondents accompanied with a cover letter.
Samples of respondents aged between 16 to 25 years were approached and were asked to complete the questionnaire. Potential respondents were approached personally asked to complete a questionnaire on attitudes towards alcohol. Respondents either completed the questionnaire straight away or took the questionnaire away to complete in their own time and return it. The sample consisted of 15 males and 13 females. The cover letter of the questionnaire gave a brief description of what constituted a 'binge' drinking session.
The data obtained was analysed and quantitative data obtained was illustrated using graphs.
Findings:
All of the 28 respondents have had consumed alcohol at least once in a month. More than half of the respondents (56%) engaged themselves in binge drinking activity. Furthermore, around 73% of the young men were binge drinkers while only 27% of females engaged themselves in binge drinking activity.
Fig1b: Pie chart showing the percentage of males and females engaged in binge drinking
Fig 1a: Pie chart showing the percentage of respondents engaged in binge drinking
The percentage of young men who consumed alcohol on weekly basis was comparatively high at 73% while only 17% drank alcohol on a daily basis. In contrast, none of the female respondents drank alcohol on a daily basis while 53% of them drank alcohol weekly basis.
Fig 2: Bar graph showing the percentage of male and female respondents who drink alcohol on daily, weekly and monthly basis and those who never drink alcohol
Around 50% of the respondent indicated that peer groups were the source of obtaining alcohol for under-age youth while 27% of them indicated that fake Id's were used by under-age youth to obtain alcohol.
Further, the responses from the participants aged above 18years and below 18 years were examined and interpreted. Almost 76% of respondents below 18 years old pointed out that binge drinking was a normal habit that was needed for socialising while only 7% of respondents above 18 years olds agreed with this point.
None of the respondents agreed that they engaged themselves in heavy drinking session for the purpose of building self confidence.
When asked for reasons that drive under-age youth to drink alcohol on a regular basis
Some of the respondents quoted that,
"They (young people) believe that it is a cool thing, a trend to follow and take up from their seniors. Make it a habit for socializing i.e., without alcohol there is no topic for conversation"
"For thrill, fun, excitement and of course out of curiosity…"
When asked what was the necessary action to be taken to reduce the levels of binge drinking in under-age youth
Some of the respondents quoted that,
"Extra curricular activities such as camping, sports activity, and gym can direct youngsters into the right direction. Advisory camps can also promote a healthy lifestyle"
"A lot of freedom is given to kids from their parents as the government is backing them up, due to which they get confidence t drink heavily and thus end up harming themselves. So, impose strict restrictions…"
Discussion:
The study explores the attitudes and motivational factors underlying binge drinking among young people in Australia. Binge drinking was found to be a common activity with 56% of the sample engaging in binge drinking mostly on a weekly basis. However, this figure is slightly lower than that obtained by the National Health Survey 2004-05. The study also reflected that there was a strong correlation between weekly consumption of alcohol and binge drinking.
Male respondents engaged in binge drinking more often than female respondents, with 63% of the male respondents engaging in binge drinking and 27% of the female respondents. Majority of the male participants drank for the reason of socializing and were more likely to consume alcohol while been pressurized by their friends or drinking mates. In addition, there are more and more factors that encourage binge drinking such as celebrating an event, venues such as nearby pubs or clubs that offer alcoholic beverages for discount. In comparison, there fewer factors which may act to inhibit binge drinking. Thus, for most of the male respondents binge drinking is a social behaviour. These findings of the present are consistent with study done by bennet and Smith who found that for men, round buying and being in company of male friends were some of the aggravating factors that lead to heavy drinking sessions.
It is hypothesized that binge drinking is mainly a social behaviour which is facilitated by a social environment both in terms of situations that encourage heavy drinking and peer pressure. This hypothesis was supported as 76% of respondents below 18 years old indicated that binge drinking was a normal habit that was needed for socialising.
The present research results have a number of implications for attempts to reduce the incidence of binge drinking among young people. Media can be also used as tool to educate and modify youth about safe drinking habits. Reviving the social environment where young people spent majority of their free time will also lead to safer drinking behavior
Conclusion:
In conclusion, this study has attempted to identify the attitudes and study the factors that aggravate binge drinking among young adults aged between 16 to 25 years. The study has concluded that more than half of the sample population engaged themselves in binge drinking and this trend is mostly common in males than females on a weekly basis. However, peer pressure and social environment that encourage drinking has been identified as two factors that drives young people to drink alcohol heavily.
It has been identified that steps are needed to change young people's social environment so that less emphasis is put on alcohol in order to reduce the incidence of binge drinking. Harm minimizing techniques such increasing awareness about the health hazards of consuming alcohol more than the recommended amount, changing the environment of the local pub and facilities to encourage other activities other than drinking.
