Psychological Theories Explaining Alcoholism among Adolescents - Essay Example

? A PSYCHOSOCIAL APPROACH TO TEEN ALCOHOLISM SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED INSTITUTE: This paper attempts to explain a news report about a social issue: Alcoholism among teenagers. Its aim is to discuss various causes of teenage drinking in light of psychosocial theories and to come up with a strategy to address this issue. The objectives of this paper are to discuss various psychological and sociological approaches explaining the said behavior of teenagers and to generate a discussion about how the psychosocial approaches can be merged together and applied to address the issue. The paper covers three famous psychological theories including the Expectancy theory, Theory of Family Interactions and the Theory of Social Learning. The issue of teenage alcoholism is then discussed and explained in light of two sociological theories as well, namely: The Social Control Theory and The Strain Theory. The article concludes with the explanation of a psychosocial approach to the social problem of teen drinking along with some strategies based on the discussion to reduce the problem. 1. INTRODUCTION Alcohol consumption happens to be one of the most significant and common high risk behavior among teenagers (Arata, et al; 2003). People have mixed attitudes towards alcohol drinking; however problematic drinking (defined as more than five drinks on one occasion) is considered harmful by most people. According to Arata and colleagues (2003), binge drinking can lead adolescents to engage in other risky behaviors like: hangovers, inappropriate behaviors, arguments, momentary memory loss and car crashes. Houghton & Roche (2001) report that alcohol is easily available even to underage people. The aim of this paper is to identify the various psycho social processes that encourage teenagers to take to drinking and to offer some intervention to resolve this issue. 1.1 The News Report The news article which forms the basis of this paper (see appendix) is briefly presented as follows: A survey study based on 5700 participants, by Joseph Rowntree Foundation was published on BBC News, which stated that ‘children who see their parents drunk are twice as likely to regularly get drunk themselves’ (NHS, 2011).The aims of this study were to investigate the first time drinking experience of teenagers and to identify the circumstances under which this happened; to gather information about the drinking habits of teenagers between ages 13 and 16 years (year 9 and year 11), studying in schools of England and to identify factors which influence the drinking habits of these teenagers. The main findings include that a majority of the students had had a drink however regular drinking was more frequent in year 11 group; the first drink most children had was with family, during some celebration; children who spent more time with friends without parental supervision were more likely to drink and children who were exposed to a drunk family member were twice as much at stake to take up drinking as compared to those who did not have a drinking family member. The study concluded that although drinking behavior in teenagers is influenced by friends, media and easy access of alcohol, but the most powerful factor is one’s family. They are not only usually responsible for exposing the children to their first drink, but also serve as drinking models for their kids to follow and their lack of supervision also contributes to the teenager\s drinking behavior (NHS, 2011). 2. PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES There is a wealth of theories in psychology that have attempted to explain drinking and factors that encourage alcoholism. Two most relevant ones are discussed below: 2.1 Social Learning Theory The social learning theory, developed mainly on the work of the behaviorist Bandura maintains that observational learning is carried out via an interaction of external and internal environment, reinforcement, information processing systems and regulatory codes (Leonard, 1999). According to Akers (1979), there are four steps that occur during the process of social learning. Differential association with different groups is the first step. In this, an individual joins a group and starts feeling a part of that group. What follows this differential association is vicarious or observational learning. This refers to the behaviors of that group which the new individual quickly learns by observing the members. Mental and cognitive processes of the individual work to associate these behaviors with social reinforcement received. The person then imitates the behavior and receives social reinforcement on each imitation. The behaviors in the group’s social environment therefore become stimuli for the behavior and the individual repeats the behavior whenever in that environment (Akers, 1979). Applying the theory of social learning to alcoholism, Leonard (1999) explains the process as follows: an individual form association with a drinking group. He/she observes the drinking behavior of the members and imitates them. This imitation is received by social reinforcement from the group, the individual forms cognitions by associating reinforcement with drinking and thus drinking becomes a response to the social atmosphere of the group. Drinking whenever with the group becomes a response behavior to being with the group; the group itself serves as a stimulus after social learning had been accomplished (Leonard, 1999). The NHS (2011) report says that adolescents were more likely to get drunk in presence of friends. Social theory can explain this finding as follows: when the teenagers’ group associations are not being supervised and monitored by parents/guardians, the teenagers may get attached to drinking groups and via social learning; they may learn to drink regularly (Leonard, 1999). 2.2 Alcohol Expectancy Theory Formulated for the first time by Tolman (1932) and developed by others (Rotter, 1954 & Bolles, 1972), the expectancy theory has its roots in cognitive psychology (Boyd, Howard & Zucker, 1995). According to this theory, the learning of a new behavior is based on memory and cognitions. When an experience occurs repeatedly, our mind stores a memory, consisting of association between the behavior and the consequences that followed it. According to Leonard (1999), the human nervous system has the ability to store memory traces of its own activation patterns. This means, that when an event occurs, the brain makes a trace of the event occurring, consequences of that event and feelings and affections involved in it. The theory therefore implies that our early experiences influence our later behavior via these stored associative memories (Boyd, Howard & Zucker, 1995). In the context of adolescence drinking, the theory applies as follows: a person is exposed to a drink for the first time and he/she has a certain feeling (positive or negative) as a result. This memory is stored by the brain. Based on this associative memory, the individual drinks again, expecting that the same consequences will follow (Leonard, 1999). Boyd, Howard & Zucker (1995) further point out that such alcohol related associative memories are not necessarily built on basis of direct experience with alcohol. Associative memories may be formed by influence of media, stories heard about how alcohol makes one feel and seeing someone getting high. In all these cases, the brain stores the memory just like as in first hand drinking experience. The associative memories later get activated and a person starts expecting the same results of alcoholism on themselves, thus they are attracted towards drinking (Boyd, Howard & Zucker, 1995). There are certain aspects of the NHS (2011) report that can be explained with help of this theory. One of the findings of the report is that the younger a person is at the time of first drink; greater are the chances of this person to engage in drinking. According to the expectancy theory, the nervous system starts making associative memories from a very early age; right after birth (Leonard, 1999). The report also states clearly, that those who have positive expectation from drinking tend to engage in drinking behavior more as compared to those who do not have positive expectations. This is exactly what alcohol expectancy theory suggests; reason being the connective associative memory traces in the nervous system (Boyd, Howard & Zucker, 1995). 2.3 Family Interactions Theory The family systems theory is growing in its popularity in present. According to the family systems theorists, family should be considered a system, a basic unit of daily functioning like other broader systems in the society (Monti, et al; 2001). As a system, family should maintain a balance between functionality and dysfunction. The behaviors of members in a family are considered reciprocal. Behavior of one individual in a family affects and is related to that of all other members of the family (Monti, et al; 2001). According to Stanton & Todd (1982, Cited in Monti, et al; 2001), though all members may not drink in a family, but alcoholism is a dysfunctional behavior and if this is done by one member in the family, it reflects a dysfunction in the whole family, since there is no individuality within a family. It is a system based holistic approach, which treats family like a unit that is not further divisible. Since the family systems perspective view alcoholism as a problem pertaining to whole of the family including all the family members, the causes of alcoholism according to this perspective are explained as faulty, conflicting or dysfunctional interrelationships within the family (Clinard & Meier, 2008). The NHS (2011) report can be explained in light of this theory as follows. The report states that the subjects’ family values, culture and ethnicity influence drinking behavior and that children who are not unsupervised by their parents are more likely to get drunk. In addition, children who have seen a close family member drunk are twice as likely to get drunk as compared to those who have not. Seeing a family member drunk indicates a dysfunctional family system (Clinard & Meier, 2008) and thus explains the cause of teenage drinking among children who have drunk family member or parents. 3. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES Sociology is a vast field of study which deals with the group behavior of humans. Various sociological theories can also be applied to the issue of teenage alcoholism. Two of these are discussed below: 3.1 Social Control Theory The Social Control theory proposes that order is kept in the society via social contract. Members of the society, who are fully affiliated with the society, accept it and believe that their actions will affect the society they are a part of (Hirschi, 2002). Moral codes of the society are internalized by all associated members of the society and their social bonds, including relationships, commitments, values and beliefs compel them to conform to the societal norms, thus creating social order and control (Hirschi, 2002). Hirschi’s sociological theory of Social Control maintains that individuals become delinquents when they fail to bond with or form associations with the society. Belief is a key factor in this theory. Belief refers to the individual’s acceptance of the moral values of the society (Waitrowski, 1981). Without belief, attachment, commitment and involvement, the individuals fail to bond with the society and do not feel a part of it. According to Hodler (1998), as per Social Control theory, deviant behavior of subgroup of the society or an individual is considered an independent act of that group or individual, who believe that they are not associated or affiliated with the rest of society by any means. The NHS (2011) study reports that individuals who are not supervised tend to drink more and they mostly do so in presence of their friends rather than family. This can relate to the Social control theory as follows: children who are not supervised by their parents have no fear of punishment from parents and they have association with a sub group of friends, so they feel alienated form the rest of the society and do not understand how their drinking behavior might affect the society and other people around them (Hirschi, 2002). 3.2 Strain Theory Another sociological theory that can explain alcoholism is the Strain theory. Merton’s theory of structural strain suggests that the gap between social standards and available means to reach these goals causes social strain among members of the society (Anderson & Taylor, 2008). Merton suggested that this imbalance between social goals and means is what compels the members of a society to become deviant. The theory of social strain states that people react in one of five ways to this imbalance (Finley, 2007). These are conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreat or rebellion. The conformists are those who accept the normative means and strive hard to use those to achieve the social goals set for them by the society; innovative ones are those who change and modify the available means to suit their purposes and reach the goals illegitimately; ritualists are those who stick zealously to social norms and unrealistically believe to achieve the goals by merely sticking to these norms; retreatists are those who lose hope and do not care either for goals or means and the rebellions are those who create new goals and means as their standards of life. Applying the theory of social strain to alcoholism, Finley (2007) suggests that alcoholics are actually those who are responding to social strain with retreatism. They are no-hopers, who do not want to achieve anything in life in their response to social strain. The NHS (2011) study reported that majority of the teenagers admitted drinking alcohol once a month primarily with the aim of getting drunk. In addition, the family values, ethnicity and culture of individuals also impacted their drinking behavior. Also, teenagers who drank more were those who had little or no parental supervision. According to the general strain theory which is an adaption of the classical strain theory, lack of parental supervision and attention itself is a strain for the child and he/she may react to it by taking up drinking, in the belief that it will make them less sad (Anderson & Taylor, 2008). 4. DISCUSSION Various psychological and sociological explanations of alcoholism have been presented in the previous section. The purpose of theory is to help in understanding and explaining a phenomenon. The purpose of this paper as mentioned in the introduction is to come up with an integrated, psycho social approach that can explain the issue of teenage alcoholism in light of the NHS (2011) study. Following is a discussion of psychosocial theory on teen alcoholism, drawing on the previously explained psychological and sociological theories collectively. 4.1 Psychosocial Explanation Psychology and Sociology are two separate disciplines of social sciences. Psychological theories on alcoholism focus more on individuals and individual related causes that contribute to alcoholism while sociological theories consider the sociological processes that lead an individual towards alcoholism. Considering the factors identified by all these theories, a psycho social causal explanation of teenage alcoholism can be chalked out. The social learning theory identifies the process of alcoholism as occurring in steps; becoming part of a group, observing the group behavior, imitating it and getting social reinforcement (Leonard, 1999). The alcohol expectancy theory on the other hand explains teenage alcoholism on basis of one’s cognitions about the consequences of drinking and associative memories on which these cognitions are built (Boyd, Howard & Zucker, 1995). The systems perspective explains alcoholism as a reaction to family dysfunction or imbalance in family’s equilibrium ((Monti, et al’ 2001; Clinard & Meier, 2008). The social control theory claims that control in a society is maintained via a social contract among the society and its citizens. Members of the society who fail to bond properly and face lack of commitment and association with the society tend to become deviant and take up to drinking or drugs etc (Hirschi, 2002; Waitrowski, 1981). While the theory of strain states that whenever individuals face a social strain (which can stem from any pressure in the society: inability to achieve social standards via fair means or due to parental strain), individuals are bound to react to this strain. One of the maladaptive ways in which teenagers react is via alcoholism (Anderson & Taylor, 2008; Finley, 2007). Based on the psychosocial theories presented above, following is a model showing how different psychosocial factors cause drinking among teens. This psychosoical model of alcoholism, created by combining the psychological and social theories discussed in the previous section is explained below: The first step in alcoholism is psychological and social stress and strain, that may occur due to various factors like dysfunction in the family, displacement of parental stress onto the children or societal strains. In the next step, the individual is exposed to alcohol, either via friends, family or media and creates positive mental expectancy regarding alcohol. The final step is that when there is lack of supervision and availability of alcohol, drinking behvaior occurs, and is reinforced in some way, either social or psychological. This behavior then becomes a habit. 4.2 Addressing the Issue of Teen Alcoholism Drinking among adolescents is a social issue and strategies must be chalked out to eliminate it. In this regard, based on the above discussion, following interventions are suggested, which might prove to be helpful in eliminating or at least reducing teen drinking behavior. Parents should be educated about not exposing the children to alcohol at an early age and avoiding encounters with drunken family members as much as possible. They should also be educated to teach their children about the potential harmful effects of alcohol. Children’s’ peer groups must be monitored and supervised, the parents must be in knowledge about where their child is going, who are his/her friends and what are they up to when together. School counselors should identify children in distress and help them before they fall prey to drinking. If there is a conflict within the family, a systems’ therapist must be consulted to resolve the issue so as not to expose the child to family dysfunctional issues. Media should not be allowed to advertise alcohol in encouraging manners. Media should instead promote the harmful effects of alcohol via short films and talk shows in an interesting manner so that the target audiences are the adolescents and the material broadcasted is appealing to them. Alcohol should not be readily available to teenagers. The community and state should take action to strictly ban the selling of alcohol to underage teens. 5. CONCLUSION It can be concluded after the above discussion, that teenage drinking is a growing social issue and it needs to be addressed at a large scale nationwide. Teenagers take up drinking because of many sociological and psychological factors. These include drinking peer groups, dysfunctional family life, psychological stress, and sociological strain, lack of bonding with society, lack of parental supervision, availability of alcohol and media messages projecting only the short term positive consequences of alcohol and ignoring the long term negative effects it can have on one’s life. This issue can be addressed using a psychosocial strategy that involves educating the parents about how to save their children from drinking, resolving family conflicts, supervising their child and acting as good role models for them. School counselors should identify children in distress and help them before they fall prey to drinking. Teenagers need to be socialized in a more bonding manner and there should be a control on advertising and selling of alcohol to teenagers. REFERENCES Akers, R ; Krohn, M.D; Kaduce, L.L & Radosevich,M. (1979). Social learning and deviant behavior. American Sociological Review, Vol. 44 (4): pp. 636-655. Anderson, M. L & Taylor, H.F. (2008). Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. New York: Thomson Wadsworth Arata, C.M; Stafford, J & Tims, M.S. (2003). Adolescence. Vol.38. (Online). Available at: http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5002082062 Accessed: July 20th, 2011. Boyd, G.M; Howard, J & Zucker, R.A. (1995). Alcohol Problems among Adolescents: Current Directions in prevention research. Hills dale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Clinard, M.B & Meier, R.F. (2008). Sociology of Deviant Behavior. New York: Thomson Wadsworth. Finley, L.L. (2007). Encyclopedia of Juvenile Violence. West Prot, CT: Greenwood Press. Hirschi, T. (2002). Causes of delinquency. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. Hodler, H.D. (1998). Alcohol & the Community: A systems’ approach to prevention. New York: The press Syndicate of Camnbridge. Houghton, E & Rouche, A. (2001). Learning about drinking. Lillington, NC: Taylor & Francis. Leonard,K. E. (1999). Psychological Theories of Drinking and Alcoholism. New York: Guilford Press. Monti, P.M; Colby, S.M & O’Leary, T.A. (2001). Adolescents, Alcohol and Substance Abuse: Reaching teens through brief interventions. New York: Guilford press. NHS. (2011). Teen drinking linked to parent’s habits. (Online). Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/06June/Pages/teen-drinking-linked-to-parents-habits.aspx Accessed: July 22nd, 2011. Waitrowski, M. B; Grisworld, D.B & Roberts, M.K. (1981). Social control theory and delinquency. American Sociological Review, Vol. 46(5): pp. 525-541. APPENDIX Teen drinking linked to parents' habits Friday June 17 2011 Family has a direct influence on teens' drinking habits A survey has revealed that “children who see their parents drunk are twice as likely to regularly get drunk themselves,” reported BBC News. Several newspapers also covered this news story. The reports are of a survey conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity that funds a nationwide research and development programme aimed at better understanding the UK’s social problems and how these can be overcome. As one of its research projects, the foundation conducted this study, published today, which explored the relationship that young people in the UK have with alcohol, and the factors that influence their drinking habits. The report, called “Young people, alcohol and influences”, presents the findings of a survey of 5,700 teenagers aged 13–14 years old (year 9) and 15–16 (year 11) in schools in England. The study gathered information on the students’ drinking patterns and looked into the wide range of factors that can influence them, such as family, media and the area in which they live. The researcher wanted to get a better understanding of the relative importance of these factors when considering how best to tackle drinking in young people.   What did the report find? The Joseph Rowntree Foundation conducted the report with two main aims: to examine the circumstances surrounding a young person’s first drink, and to look at their current drinking patterns, including the amount consumed and experiences of drunkenness to improve understanding of what really influences a young person’s drinking pattern by identifying the factors that most strongly influence their behaviour The key findings of the report were: 70% of year 9 students and 89% of year 11 students had had an alcoholic drink, but regular drinking was more common among year 11 students than those in year 9. The most common age for having a first alcoholic drink was 12–13 years old, and this usually took place in the presence of an adult and when celebrating a special occasion. Drinking more frequently was most likely: ? if the teen received less supervision from a parent or other close adult ? if they spent more than two evenings a week with friends, especially if these friends drank ? if they were exposed to a close family member, especially a parent, whom they saw drinking or getting drunk ? if they thought positively about drinking and its effects ? if alcohol was easily accessible The report also found that while friends clearly play an important influential role, family has a direct effect on teens’ behaviour. Parents or guardians are often involved in a child’s first experience of alcohol, exposing them to drunkenness, and are responsible for the amount of supervision a teenager is given (such as knowing where they are on evenings when they are away from home).   How much are young people drinking? As indicated above, the majority of teens in years 9 and 11 had had at least one alcoholic drink. In the lower school year, girls were more likely to have had a drink than boys, though the gap closed by the later school year. Of year 9 students who reported ever drinking alcohol: 47% drank at least once a month 20% drank every week 27% had had a drink in the week before the survey 47% had one or two drinks the last time they drank Of year 11 students who drank alcohol: 72% drank at least once a month 39% drank every week 49% had had a drink in the week before the survey 25% had six or more drinks the last time they drank In year 9, 39% of those who drank alcohol in the past week had consumed seven units or more, while in year 11 the same proportion drank 14 units or more. Just over half (54%) of the year 9 teens who had ever had an alcoholic drink reported that they had also been drunk on one or more occasions. Of year 11 drinkers, 79% had ever been drunk, with 52% reporting they had been drunk more than once. Of those who reported ever being drunk, 47% of year 9 and 66% of year 11 students said that they drink with their friends at least once a month with the primary aim of getting drunk.   What are they drinking? The report found that year 9 students were most likely to drink alcopops (26% of drinks consumed) or beer or lager (29%), followed by spirits or liqueurs (22%), cider (13%) and wine or similar drinks (10%). Year 11 students were most likely to drink beer or lager (35%), spirits or liqueurs (25%), followed by alcopops (17%), cider (12%) and wine (11%). In both year groups, the survey found that those who drank beer and lager drank greater quantities than teens who drank other types of alcoholic drink.   What influences teens to drink? Though family drinking habits and witnessing drunkenness among family members had a strong influence on drinking, the strongest influence on drinking was having friends who drank. About 75% reported being with an adult when they drank for the first time. However, while both year groups were most likely to have been drinking at home the last time they drank, the proportion was smaller in the older group: 43% of year 9 students were with parents or siblings when they last drank, compared to 34% of year 11 students, who were more likely to have had their last drink with friends (23% compared to 13% in year 9). The less parental or adult supervision that a teen had (for example, parents not knowing where they were on a Saturday night), the more likely they were to have a drink. For those teens who had not had a drink, lack of interest in alcohol was the main factor identified. A young person’s religion, ethnicity and family values were also likely to predict whether the teen had had a drink. The main influences of “current” drinking (drinking in the past week) were: age: the younger a person was when they had their first drink, the more likely they were to have been drinking in the past week expecting positive outcomes from drinking most (rather than some or a few) of a young person’s friends also drinking frequency of drinking in the family: a young person was more likely to be a current drinker if at least one member of their family drank each week the circumstances of their first drink: those introduced to alcohol at a family celebration were less likely to be current drinkers, which the report says indicates some degree of family monitoring or supervision easy access to alcohol Similar factors influence current excessive drinking, with friends’ levels of drinking having the strongest influence. The risk of excessive drinking increases the more time the person spends with their friends. It is also affected by the age of the friends, with older friends or siblings influencing how easily teenagers could access alcohol. Factors affecting teens’ drunkenness are similar, though being extremely young when they had their first drink (under 6 years old) and witnessing family drunkenness had a very strong influence. The report says that a young person has about double the odds of getting drunk multiple times if they have ever witnessed their parents drunk, compared with never seeing this (odds ratio 1.88, no confidence interval given).   What does the report conclude? This report concludes that, though drinking among young people is not inevitable, a large proportion of teenagers do drink alcohol. The researchers consider that there is little benefit from policies aiming to prevent young people from trying alcohol, but that they should instead focus on preventing immediate and longer-term effects of drinking alcohol. The report highlights the strongest influences on current, excessive and risky drinking, and says that the new government alcohol strategy offers the opportunity to set out a strong central policy and give a clear message to parents, local policy-makers and frontline services. The authors suggest that the best way of improving drinking behaviour could be to support and educate parents, giving them positive messages about how they can influence their child’s behaviour. They also stress the importance of the parents' own drinking and how this affects their child’s perception of alcohol. Schools can also play an important role in challenging incorrect perceptions about the frequency and scale of heavy drinking among young people, providing information and getting targeted messages to parents.   Read More