METHODOLOGY

This study focuses on Irish female college students and their attitudes towards binge drinking, public service announcements and a harm reduction approach. Its main question is:

What should social marketing messages contain in order to reduce the amount of binge drinking among female college students in third level colleges?

The research objectives are as follows:

• What is the extent of binge drinking among the third level female student population? • What are their motivations/beliefs/expectancies about binge drinking?

• What are their coping strategies in relation to binge drinking?

• Are social threat appeals more powerful than physical threat appeals in preventing binge drinking among female third level students?

Five focus groups were conducted between March and April 2009. The focus groups were held in the conference room of the library in Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland. This location facilitated the use of a large projector system which was used to screen the public service announcements shown in this study. The focus groups were recorded on audio tape to facilitate data collection and analysis. The focus groups typically lasted between 1.5 - 2 hours. All participants were young female college students aged between 18 and 24 years of age (the target profile of the study). Focus group participants were full time students taking classes in the Department of Management and Marketing at Cork Institute of Technology.

Participants were firstly briefed on the purpose and research objectives of the study. From the outset participants were assured of their anonymity and encouraged to contribute their opinions without prejudice. Having introduced the topic, a 25 - 30 minute preliminary discussion was conducted to gather data on the drinking history and drinking behaviours of the participants. Having completed this discussion, participants were shown six physical fear advertisements and five social fear advertisements. Reactions to each advertisement were gauged after they were shown. A general discussion was then held when all advertisements had been shown to focus group participants. This discussion was to ascertain which advertisements the participants felt were the most effective and why.

As well as using focus groups to obtain data on the topic under consideration, semi-structured interviews were also conducted. For the purposes of eliciting extensive data from two leading public health experts, these interviews were felt to be one of the most appropriate research methods. Two interviews were conducted for the purposes of this research in April and May 2009. The interviews were held with two leading public health experts in Ireland, in the area of alcohol related harm. Both individuals were chosen on the basis that they had extensive knowledge of the health effects that binge drinking was causing on the Irish public and also on the basis that their own personal opinions and views would be very insightful in gaining an overall view of how serious the public health community viewed binge drinking, especially amongst females.

5.

RESULTS

The extent of binge drinking among female college students in this study is quite high. Of the 45 female students who participated in the focus group discussions, it was determined that at least 90% of them would now classify themselves as binge drinkers after clarifying what a binge drinker is. At the very outset of each focus group, participants were asked to define what they thought was meant by the term binge drinking. The majority of the participants did not know the official definition for binge drinking but did make attempts at it.

126

I don’t think it’s a number. I think it is if you are drinking a lot in a short space of time. Binge drinking - it is where you have 9 drinks on a night out.

When participants were told what the official definition of binge drinking involved, the vast majority were very dismissive of this definition and felt it was unrealistic. By having a more realistic definition of excessive drinking, it should be easier to educate people and reduce overall alcohol consumption. This highlights the need to educate people in Ireland, as to what constitutes excessive drinking. This was also the view of the two health professionals interviewed:

I think that the definition should be broadened as I think the word binge and the public’s understanding of it is a problem. If something isn’t credible, then it is hard to relate to and follow. I think generally speaking, people don’t know what is meant by the term binge. Everyone will have a

different perception of what is meant by it and that is an issue that needs to be addressed. For instance, I would not classify myself as a binge drinker although I have drank more than 5 drinks on

many an occasion.

For the majority of the participants, they all drink alcohol in a house with friends before they go to bars or nightclubs and the reasons given for this include “it’s cheaper” and “it’s a good laugh”. The alcohol of choice for most of the participants was vodka, wine and beer but it is the consumption levels of these types of alcohol that is most startling. Most students freely admitted that they would drink a naggin of vodka (250ml or the equivalent of 8 standard shots) or a bottle of wine on their own, before leaving a house to go to a pub or nightclub. This was mainly due to the price of alcoholic beverages in the bars and clubs as opposed to the relatively cheap price of alcohol products in the off- trade sector. One respondent stated:

You drink as much as you possibly can before you go out.

When participants were asked about the health consequences of consuming large quantities of alcohol, their knowledge of such was poor and dismissive. Participants were informed of the potential health consequences of consuming excessive amounts of alcohol, for example increasing the potential risk of getting breast cancer but were unfazed and were only interested in the short term effects such as a hangover or bad skin for a few days as opposed to the longer term health effects:

Well we know there are health effects, but we do not think of them. There are health effects with everything - you worry about that when you are old.

Both health professionals agreed with this delay in the realisation of the adverse health effects of excessive drinking:

This particular target audience do not think long term. They only worry about the short term effects of their drinking, such as the hangover or maybe getting sick. Some people are just risk lovers and so

are willing to risk their health in the longer term by continuing to drink at excessive levels on a regular basis.

There was general acceptance among focus group participants that binge drinking was seen as “normative behaviour” during their college years. It became very apparent while conducting the focus groups that participants consumed a lot of alcohol on a regular basis and that they felt that it was “not such a big deal” and “that everyone was doing it”. From the focus groups, it was very evident that the majority of participants use alcohol to enhance their mood and help them enjoy the college experience by having a good time:

127

It is just a laugh when you go out drinking with all the class.

The reason you drink is because it helps you have a good time when you are out.

When you are at home, you are not going to go into your parents at 7.30pm ready to go out for the night. Whereas when you are in college, you would definitely start drinking around then. It became clear while conducting the focus groups with the female college students that there was a distinct disregard for the possibility that they could themselves become a victim of excessive alcohol consumption. One of the main coping strategies for this particular group is the constant reference to the role that friends play in ensuring that nothing too extreme or potentially dangerous will occur to them while in a state of intoxication or when they are binge drinking.

No, it would not happen to me, my friends would take care of me.

But we all stay together. We all stay in the same place and we all mind each others’ drinks when we go to the bathroom.

My friends would never leave me.

When questioned further, there was an acknowledgement by the majority of focus group participants that maybe they were not in as much control as they think they are after consuming a substantial quantity of alcohol. This certainly had an impact on participants during the discussion with many of them openly admitting that it was something that they never really thought about before and that being in control is something they take for granted. After viewing the physical threat appeals in particular, this realisation was observed and it made them think more about the levels of alcohol they were consuming and the potential impact this could have on them if they continued to drink at these excessive levels.

After viewing some of those advertisements, I can relate to them and it does make me realise that you do take your safety for granted on nights out a lot of the time.

You probably think you are in more control than you actually are. That is what the alcohol does anyway. It gives you a false sense of security.

Honestly, I have never really thought much about the implications of drinking before, as nothing serious has happened to me or my friends on nights out.

Having assessed both social and physical threat appeals through the use of various Public Service Announcements (PSAs) from Ireland, the UK, Australia and the US, it became evident from conducting the focus groups that physical threat appeals are more powerful than social threat appeals. When asked to choose which type of PSA was the more effective, every participant agreed that the physical threat appeals proved more effective than the social threat appeals. Observations from the focus groups showed that the female students experienced increases in knowledge, perceived risk and responsibility, and a decrease in perceived acceptability of binge drinking after viewing the various physical threat appeals as opposed to the social threat appeals. One of the main reasons behind these observations related to fear itself, of which they perceived more from the physical appeals rather than the social appeals - the latter the participants found ineffective at reducing binge drinking, particularly among their age group. The physical appeals which had the most effect on this target group were the advertising appeals which dealt with the issue of potential sexual assault and rape as a result of binge drinking:

128

You get a shock. You do not think that is going to happen to you, whereas in fact, it could. Everybody knows that it could happen but when you see a situation like that, it frightens you. I could see it happening to people because you do see people who are absolutely demented when they are out and they do not know what they are doing. That type of appeal would frighten people who get

into that state when they are out and make them conscious that it could happen to them. The majority of rapes happen when the person is intoxicated like that girl in that advertisement, and

also when the girl is left on her own.

The effects that the social threat appeal advertisements (dealing with female drinkers being embarrassed due to their drinking) had on the participants are also very interesting to note. While these appeals were being shown, it was observed by the moderators that there was a lot of laughing and scoffing during them, suggesting that the participants were very dismissive of these types of appeal and generally did not find them realistic or in any way effective.

We laughed at the last two advertisements there now, so they need to be more shocking than that. They are just wasting their money with those types of advertisements.

They are not shocking at all and I really do not think they are taken seriously by people our own age. It is always this type of advertisement they show on Irish TV and they are not effective at all. This general dismissive reaction would suggest that social fear appeals are not effective for college students as they are not relatable, shocking or realistic enough to make them change their patterns of drinking. When participants were asked for their reactions after viewing these appeals some of the words and phrases used were “weird”; “only alright”; “the advertisements won’t really make much of a difference”; and “no one would ever get that bad really”.

The views expressed by the participants after viewing both physical and social fear appeals clearly demonstrate that physical fear appeals work in terms of potentially changing a person’s behaviour and ultimately could work at reducing the level of binge drinking among female college students. Thus, the results from the focus groups suggest that female college students felt that fear is a necessary emotion in reducing binge drinking and that physical threat appeals are the most effective intervention in invoking this fear.

6.

CONCLUSIONS

Ireland has a culture that is immersed and revolves around the consumption of alcohol and this has led to a substantial increase in alcohol related harm in our society. While attending college, this normative behaviour of consuming substantial or excessive amounts of alcohol becomes more regular and sustained. The majority of the participants in this study stated that they drink alcohol on a regular basis and see it as normative behaviour while attending college. They also view their current alcohol consumption as a rite of passage to adulthood and that their alcohol consumption will lessen once they attain more responsibilities in adult life.

Social marketing messages need to contain images and statistics that will result in shock and awe amongst the target group - female college students. The advertisements which proved most effective amongst the participants in this study proved to be physical threat appeals which dealt with the serious issues of sexual assault and rape. Every advertisement shown to the participants dealing with these issues resulted in the necessary emotion needed to change a person’s behaviour - fear. It would therefore seem apparent that these types of physical threat appeals should be shown on Irish TV to highlight the potentially serious consequences of binge drinking as opposed to the current appeals

129

which focus group participants admitted were “laughable” rather than being taken seriously. Indeed, participants were so strong in their views on this, that they said that the advertisements were currently a “waste of money and time”. College students often view such messages as hypocritical, especially when they conflict with common cultural behaviours. As a result, programmes and messages targeted at college students need to be realistic about the ineffectiveness of prohibition approaches and social threat appeals. Therefore, raising awareness about how to drink more safely rather than insisting on abstinence may be a better strategy for health promotion bodies to adopt.

The findings revealed the contradictory role of the alcohol industry’s involvement in alcohol awareness campaigns in Ireland, in particular Diageo and Heineken, necessitating that this issue needs to be re-evaluated if the Irish Department of Health and Children wishes to reach its aim of trying to reduce alcohol consumption in this country down to the current EU average. While the Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society (MEAS) body conduct very effective work at informing people to drink within safe limits, they are however funded by the alcohol industry and so have to abide by certain guidelines as set out by the industry. Therefore, it is clear that these campaigns will never raise the awareness of public health issues or recommend people to reduce their alcohol consumption as effectively as an independent body.

Policy makers should also take note of the role of the off-trade sector, specifically off-licences and supermarkets in supplying cheap alcohol and offering deals on alcohol. Respondents in the focus groups drank most of their alcohol in their own homes before they went out for the night. Recent figures released by the National Off-Licence Association in Ireland show that the number of general drink sales outlets has increased three-fold in the past seven years with an increase of 14% in the number of off-licences opened in Ireland between 2005 and 2007 (CSO 2008).

The area of harm reduction rather than abstinence was seen as an area that warrants further research. By adopting a harm reduction approach, it acknowledges that most adolescents and young adults will drink alcohol. Therefore, supporting less harmful drinking behaviour may be a means for providing education on how to drink more safely thus preventing heavy consumption without provoking a rebellious response from the target group.

Overall, according to the findings and extensive literature review conducted for the purposes of this research, this study concludes that the use of physical threat appeals is the most feasible and realistic option in reducing binge drinking among female college students. Physical fear was consistently found to be an effective approach amongst this target group for potentially changing their behaviour and reducing their alcohol consumption and propensity to binge drink regularly. The use of issues such as sexual assault and rape should be considered in these appeals as they proved very effective at initiating potential behaviour change among female college students who participated in this research.

REFERENCES

ƒ Alexander EN and Bowen AM (2004) Excessive drinking in college: Behavioural outcome, not binge, as a basis for prevention. Addictive Behaviours, 29 (6), 1199-1205

ƒ Baer JS (2002) Student Factors: Understanding individual variation in college drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 14, 40-53

ƒ Baer PE and Bray JH (1999) Adolescent individuation and alcohol use. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 13, 52-62

ƒ Baker B (2000) Education is always the answer. Drug and Alcohol Review, 19, 133-134

ƒ Belk RW, Bahn KD and Mayer RN (1982) Development Recognition of Consumption Symbolism. Journal of Consumer Research, 9, 4-17

ƒ Blackman SJ (1996) Has drug culture become an inevitable part of youth culture? A critical assessment of drug education. Educational Review 48, 131-142

130