"If you only have money for two drinks you might as well have nothing at all" : young people talk about drinking and drug use : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
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Date
2010
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Massey University
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Abstract
Psychoactive consumption is on the rise. In particular young people’s heavy sessional or
‘binge’ drinking has been highlighted in the media because of the burden it places upon
public health resources and the risks it poses to health and social order. Youth
intoxication has therefore become a prominent issue for policy makers, health promoters
and researchers. Previous research suggests excessive drinking amongst young people
can be understood in terms of the contemporary commodification of leisure which
contributes to a culture of intoxication and facilitates the pursuit of calculated hedonism.
The current study investigated the discourses surrounding the intoxication practices of
18 – 24 year olds. Twenty-one male and female participants took part in four friendship
group discussions in Auckland, New Zealand. Their talk was subsequently analysed to
gain access to young people’s views on drinking and other drug use in the context of
socialising. The data was subjected to a Foucauldian discourse analysis and three
discourses were identified in the texts: self-regulation, psychosocial development and
pleasure. Together, these constituted a web of meaning which constructed drinking and
drug use as a constrained, socially appropriate and culturally embedded practice
motivated by enjoyment and social enhancement. Participants deliberately pursued
states of intoxication, maintaining specific boundaries of appropriateness, means,
frequency and degree of inebriation while simultaneously taking measures to mitigate
perceived risks. Widespread conceptions of young adults’ heavy sessional consumption
as reckless or out of control did not correspond to the young people’s perceptions of
themselves as responsible, risk averse, social drinkers. Participants consistently resisted
the positioning afforded them by the public discourse of censure surrounding youth
intoxication and in doing so located their behaviour as age-appropriate and shaped by
wider societal norms. Occasional excesses were constructed as a necessary and
beneficial constituent of the maturation process.
Results highlight the degree to which the voices of relevant consumer groups have been
marginalised in the policy development process and the credibility gap between young
people’s experiences and the health promotion messages directed at them. Findings
problematise the notion that education about the risks of drinking and drug use will
cause young people to moderate their behaviour out of a desire to avoid them. It is
suggested that current focus on youth excess unduly attributes blame at the expense of
recognising the more pervasive changes required to modify population-wide detrimental
drinking cultures.
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Keywords
Binge drinking, Alcohol use, Drug use, Alcohol consumption, Attitudes to alcohol consumption, Young people, Young adults