Adolescents Resisting the Drinking Culture: understanding Abstinence and Low-risk Alcohol Consumption in Adolescence

Abstract

The consumption of alcohol among Australian adolescents is a public health concern. Adolescent alcohol consumption is considered to be normal rather than an exception in contemporary Australian culture. Experts have described adolescents’ alcohol consumption patterns as ‘alarming’, despite adolescent alcohol consumption reducing in recent decades. This thesis establishes new insights into the social phenomena of adolescent alcohol consumption by investigating an adolescent population that chooses either to abstain from alcohol consumption or to consume alcohol only at low-risk levels. The newly generated information and/or knowledge may provide a framework or background to appropriately position new research activity, inform the way the community interacts with adolescents and guide the development of future public health policy, education and strategy directions to prevent the onset of drinking among Australian adolescents, and/or assist them to abstain from alcohol consumption or consume alcohol safely during adolescence. The study was undertaken in two stages. Stage 1, a qualitative systematic review, sought to synthesise current literature regarding the decisions adolescents make about abstaining from alcohol, and to identify gaps in the literature. This review identified a lack of research such that no metasynthesis was possible and no conclusions or implications for the future could be drawn. Stage 2, a descriptive exploratory study, sought to determine the individual, social and environmental factors that influenced decisions about alcohol use in a small cohort of 12 Australian adolescents aged between 14 and 19 years who abstained from alcohol or consumed only at low-risk volumes. Participants described a set of intertwined individual and social factors that influenced the decisions they made about not consuming alcohol. Their ability to socialise with their peers who consumed alcohol, rather than become socially isolated, indicated that abstinence or low-risk drinking during adolescence was becoming an acceptable choice, despite pervasive pressure to drink. The participants reported possessing positive self-identity and life orientation, and they wanted to remain authentic. Connectedness with parents and close friends contributed to and supported their positive life orientations. Consuming alcohol during adolescence was described as an activity associated with the ‘cool kids’ of their social network. The hierarchical social structures of cool-kid peer groups were associated with adolescent drinking and default drunkenness. These dynamics were deemed to be social liabilities by adolescents who were abstinent or low-risk alcohol consumers, and this consolidated their personal drinking decisions. Notably, participants believed environmental factors exerted the least influence on the decisions the abstinent and low-risk drinking adolescents made about drinking, and environmental factors were not related to individual or social factors. These adolescents were not influenced by the easy accessibility of alcohol, or by positive media depictions of alcohol. However, they expressed concern about their peers being able to readily access alcohol through parental and proxy purchasing, and about the effects of young people posting images of their alcohol consumption on social media. An alternative social norm in which adolescents do not consume alcohol when socialising already exists in Australia. Making visible the abilities and strategies employed by Australian adolescents who resist alcohol consumption may contribute to the development of an adolescent culture that accepts and supports abstinence and low-risk alcohol consumption. The findings of this study can inform future policy, education and strategy directions to prevent the onset of drinking among Australian adolescents and assist them in abstaining from any or excess alcohol consumption during this significant developmental stage.