The Influence of Gender and Alcohol Consumption Patterns on Alcohol Expectancy - Essay Example

Running Head: influence of Gender and Alcohol Consumption Patterns The influence of Gender and Alcohol Consumption Patterns on Alcohol Expectancy amongst Undergraduate Students [Student's Name] [Institution's Name] The influence of Gender and Alcohol Consumption Patterns on Alcohol Expectancy amongst Undergraduate Students Abstract The drug culture of today includes the world's favorite drug; alcohol. For those who like to drink, and for those who love to drink, alcohol is quite possibly the most abused substance on planet Earth. (Edwards 2003, 223) The purpose of this paper is to discuss some research and analysis of the connection between alcohol and undergraduate students and to ultimately give reason as to why more and more students are choosing to consume in a harmful manner. The focal points of my research are all external factors simply because the main means of alcohol promotion and regulation are due to the mass media and government. The only internal factor that remains is the choice of consumption from the individual after he or she has weighed out the factors they are exposed to; whether it be a "Happy Hour" promotion or a loved one whose an alcoholic, each decision to consume alcohol are internally made and perceived and subjective only to that individual. Its nearly impossible to study each and every single person's perceptions on the subject of alcohol prevalence rates, however, numbers and statistics are always an accurate tool for study. Many of the articles chosen to use for research include survey results, marketing opinions, college binge drinking studies, psychology related magazines and of course programs to cure alcohol related problems; such Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and social norms programs made by colleges to reduce and stop binge drinking. Introduction Fact, one in three eighteen to twenty-four year old persons admitted into emergency rooms for serious injuries are intoxicated. Fact, a twelve-ounce bottle of beer has the same amount of alcohol as a standard shot of eighty-proof liquor mixed or straight as well as a five ounce glass of wine. Fact, rates of binge drinking are increasing alarmingly. When alcohol and undergraduate students are near, they are contributing to the need for college anti-alcohol social programs, strict laws and regulations, and of course, serious and sometimes fatal injury. But, what is the major problem and why is it a problem Increasing rates of alcoholism on college campuses are creating a large number of negative consequences including long term brain damage, long term jail sentences, and extremely long term sleep; six feet under. The main contributing factors to the increasing rates of alcoholism are directly caused by ineffective laws and regulations and the superior power of manipulation from the multi-media. This paper will be divided into five sections; the first section will cover the laws and regulations made by Canadian and American governments, the second and most focused part of the paper, the marketing power of the mass media and its effects on the individual, the third section will discuss why current marketing strategies to lessen the rates of alcohol use are failing and will continue to fail, the fourth section will bring attention to many of the skewed statistics of alcohol studies and use real articles and statistics to strengthen this allegation, and the latter sections will deal with many of the internal and psychological factors that each individual faces before consumption of alcohol; here, research from psychology journals and magazines will be criticized and analyzed to make a rational and proper conclusion of the previous discussions and arguments. Laws And Regulations Of Alcohol In most of the United States of America, patrons must be twenty-one years of age to purchase and consume alcohol, whereas in most of Canada, the age of consumption is nineteen, however, one strange fact is that at eighteen, Canadians are considered adults; that is, they are indeed permitted to vote, but not purchase or consume alcohol. (Liquor Control Act, R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER L.18, Consolidated Statutes of Ontario) As a responsible government, these regulations in Canada should be changed to one of two laws, that is either raise the voting age to nineteen, or lower the drinking age to eighteen. Many would agree that both of these solutions are justifiable as even in the United States, one is an adult at eighteen years of age. A survey has not been done on this particular subject, but my thoughts are that more than eighty percent of eighteen year olds would definitely want to have the drinking age lowered to eighteen based on the grounds that if they are considered adults, they should be permitted to choose whether or not to consume and purchase alcohol. But, what about the patrons who are already of alcohol-consumption age Several survey studies have been made by the University of Wisconsin in South Point, Office of Student Health, which has many facts of undergraduate students drinking habits from college campuses around the U.S. and Canada. From one of the UWSP fact sheets, when students were asked through survey to check all reasons that apply to why they felt the need to drink, more than half answered that they drank simply because they could. (Alcohol and Undergraduate students Drinking Fact Sheet, UWSP Office of Student Health Office) This "because I can, I will" attitude is perhaps the strongest of many reasons to drink thus leading to too many undesired negative consequences. More specifically, the 'because I, can I will' attitude is described by social psychologists as cognitive priming; the heightened availability of information. Cognitive priming is not a hard concept to understand, Doctor Guido Hertel of the University of W&uuml;rzburg explains cognitive priming more clearly as the "current availability of cognitive concepts in human memory." In this particular case, the available information is that one must be of certain age to purchase and consume alcohol, thus giving a concept of importance and responsibility. Often, the concepts of alcohol consumption are negatively reinforced by, for example, an alcoholic relative would be promoting a desire to shun alcohol and its users. Setting aside the internal choices of alcohol users, perhaps the next factor that reinforces the use and misuse of alcohol are the loosely enforced and weak punishment of alcohol law infractions. The laws and regulations of alcohol everywhere are so weak, many consider them to be a 'slap on the wrist.' In both Canada and the United States of America, the laws and regulations are not suited to the age of majority, that is, the laws and punishments are not properly matched for the crime committed. In Ontario, an underage patron with alcohol on their breath can receive a fine up to $150, and a ride home from police. (Liquor Control Act, R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER L.18, Consolidated Statutes of Ontario) However, this punishment is not going to prevent the incident from occurring again. In the United States' Texas, an underage patron who has been consuming any amount of alcohol, they are immediately given a two-hundred dollar fine and must be taken to a police holding centre to be assigned to a Alcohol Awareness program where the offender attends a course with a grand total learning time of sixty hours. In Canada, there is little done to prevent minors from consuming and repeating offences. If anything, it is teaching children to be more careful from being caught. Returning to the subject of priming, teenagers are the easiest and most manipulative target for the media today, that is the reason why there are so many advertisements and commercials on television that deal with the negative consequences of improper alcohol use; proper age, and reasonable amounts of consumption etc. The primed information is that firstly, alcohol can lead to improper judgements and lowered inhibitions; some would argue that this is a positive side effect of alcohol and thus, creating more weight on the positive side of the scale for alcohol use. Another example of weak alcohol regulation; when a person is of age for drinking in Canada and an open container of alcohol is discovered on their persons, a maximum fine of two-hundred dollars, but with some reasonable explanation, perhaps a warning, nevertheless, the maximum fine is not so harsh. More harmful to both society and the individual are the amount of DUI related injuries and deaths; one in three individuals aged between eighteen and twenty-four are admitted into an emergency room while intoxicated. And presently, there are organizations that are upset with the current Driving Under the Influence (DUI) laws in both Canada and the United States. Organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving (OSAID), televise anti-drinking and driving commercials through images of graphic nature to persuade and inform others of the consequences of impaired driving; usually death and serious injury, not to mention years in prison or extreme fines. Penalties in Europe for driving while impaired are greater than any other place in the world; police will often wait after last call and just watch suspects crawl into their cars and arrest them immediately, providing they are drunk. In Texas, the penalty, penalties rather, for a first offence Driving Under the Influence is a fine of 500 dollars, a mandatory alcohol awareness course, forty hours of community service and a sixty-day suspension of license. However, the penalty for a first-time offender of a DUI is actually quite small when comparing to Texas; in Ontario a first offence of a DUI with no injury or harm will only result in a three-month suspension of license. Once again, this small slap on the wrist punishment allows for behaviours undergraduate students to feel that they can repeat the offence but just become more careful as to not be caught. Just as in Ontario, the legal blood alcohol concentration limit before unsafe impairment is eminent is 0.08 percent in Texas and it clearly means one cannot have more than fifty milligrams of alcohol for every one hundred milliliters of blood, and if this limit is exceeded, the effects of the alcohol will impair the driver's judgement. One crucial difference is that in Ontario, a small by-law is in effect that can suspend a driver's license for twelve hours if a driver exhales a 0.05 percent BAC rating on a Breathalyzer test machine. If it had not been for organizations such as the MADD, or OSAID, this by-law may not have prevented further accidents and injury. Laws and regulations are designed to maintain order for a community and its citizens, but more importantly, create a deterrent to stop crime and also minimize alcohol-crimes. The real problems relies in the weak penalties and consequences of Canadian law; they are not acting a great deterrent, and the numbers do not lie - "fifty-six percent of the drivers killed in single-vehicle crashes tested positive for alcohol." (Canada Safety Council, Alcohol-crash Stats) The Marketing Power Of The Media The most influential and integral contributing factor for the increase in alcohol consumption in North American citizens regardless of age and status is the awesome marketing power of the media. Certain aspects of the media have been blamed countless times in the past for eating disorders, troubled teen violence, school shootings, and almost any other conceivable action seen in movies or television such as drug use. But, how does it happen, and more importantly why do people chose to mimic such actions The media utilizes the process of desensitization, subliminal cues and priming to create an incredibly strong glue to keep viewers doing what they do best; view. Whether the media is a poster, a song, a commercial, a program etc, the viewers are continually unaware of the impact it will have at a later period. For example, a teenage girl sees on television programs and movies that all the women are one hundred and ten pounds with an ultra-thin figure and profile, so she adopts a different lifestyle; eating less (anorexia) or binging and purging by vomiting after meals (bulimia), to achieve this 'image' of a perfect weight. However, this low weight and small size is a serious health hazard and can, if not treated, lead to death of starvation of proteins and nutrients to vital organs. This effect does not just affect young girls; the media plays a major role in the consumption of alcohol among undergraduate students all over North America. What is very surprising is how the effect of the media on students in North America are the same between the United States and Canada given that both have very different tactics for promotion and advertising; mostly the United States having less prohibited and less-restricting laws that govern their media. In several states of the US, alcohol is often distributed free of charge as a promotion aid; this can occur at block parties, band events and banquets. Law makers in Canada, however, are not so willing to just give out beer. Laws are so strict that alcohol as a prize for a contest are illegal, also Canadian laws forbid companies to maintain a purchase of product in order to gain entry into a contest. Evidence of this particular law exists on all contests regardless if there is alcohol involved; for example, McDonald's Monopoly, Coca-Cola contests and giveaways, every contest in Canada must state a 'No Purchase Necessary' statement on the label of their product. To further the argument that the media helps undergraduate students to drink more easily and more accessible is the plain and simple fact that although Canadian vendors cannot offer 'bottem-beer' pitchers or twenty-ounce glasses but rather a slightly insignificant deal when one buys say four beers at a time though a pitcher rather than by purchasing a bottle at a time. When given an opportunity to save money, anyone, not just students will take advantage. "Almost three quarters of on-premise establishments offered specials on weekends, and almost one half of the on-premise establishments and more than 60% of off-premise establishments provided at least one type of beer promotion. The availability of large volumes of alcohol (24- and 30-can cases of beer, kegs, party balls), low sale prices, and frequent promotions and advertisements at both on- and off-premise establishments were associated with higher binge drinking rates on the college campuses. In addition, an overall measure of on- and off-premise establishments was positively associated with the total number of drinks consumed." (Kuo, et al. 2003, 204) (The Marketing of Alcohol to Undergraduate students, The Role of Low Prices and Special Promotions) Some students are continuing to abuse alcohol and retain their drinking habits. Unfortunately, alcohol is a problem in Canada and the only way to begin solving these problems is to regulate the media and markets. Regulation: Social Norms Marketing To date, there are plenty of organizations that have tried to establish a foothold in college drinking statistics; that is to lower the dangerous statistics towards alcohol related injuries and promote other means of entertainment. The methods that organizations such as Mothers Against Drinking and Driving (MADD), Mothers Against Impaired Driving (MAID), and others, are quite impressive and tactful. However, the tactics they use, are not considered moral by many people. Social norms are beliefs that people hold about a particular behaviour that is expected in a particular social context. On the same survey from University of Wisconsin mentioned previously in section 1.0, the survey also reveals that most students "greatly overestimate the amount of high-risk drinking that occurs on their campus and on college campuses in general." And, based on this misconception, students may conclude that high-risk drinking is the social norm, which in turn may lead them to increased alcohol consumption. In other words, the inaccurate perception may cause students to believe they are both justified and pressured to consume large amounts of alcohol in order to be like other students. The methods that organizations such as MADD and MAID use are social marketing and social norms marketing; these methods utilize the social norms that currently exist. Social marketing is the application of commercial marketing and advertising principles to the design and implementation of mass media campaigns to advance social causes. Like commercial marketing, social marketing uses research to precisely tailor messages for a particular target audience. Many colleges in Canada and the United States are now using a strategy called social norms marketing in order to inform students of the high rates of alcohol consumption. If improperly perceived norms are leading to increased drinking behavior, it seems logical that informing students of actual drinking norms may reduce student drinking. A social norms marketing campaign about high-risk drinking attempts to correct student misconceptions of drinking norms to reflect actual drinking patterns on campuses. Social norms is the topic of the campaign, while social marketing is the process used to spread information about campus norms. "Social norms marketing" is one strategy some colleges in the USA and Canada use to try and decrease the amount of alcohol consumption within their students. In the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), studied thirty-seven colleges that employed social norms marketing and sixty-one that did not. The data sets from 1997, 1999, and 2001 shows little difference in the students drinking patterns and behaviours between schools with social norms marketing and those without. That is, there is no evidence to support that social norms and social marketing work as currently utilized. (Wechsler, et al. 2006, 484) (Perception and Reality: A National Evaluation of Social Norms Marketing Interventions to Reduce Undergraduate students' Heavy Alcohol Use) References Adlaf, Edward M., and Angela Paglia. Drug Use Amoung Ontario Students. Toronto, ON: Addiction Research Foundation, 2001. 3-177. Alcohol and Undergraduate students - UWSP Norms." 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