Реферат: Substance abuse: Alcohol Consumption and alcohol dependence among the youth (Социологическое исследование проблемы алкоголизма среди студентов)

ICEF, GROUP 2/2Tutor:Yulia PoltorakStudent:Matyukhin Anton

reSearch Paper on Sociology

Substance abuse:

Alcohol Consumption andalcohol dependence among the youth.

Международныйинститут экономики и финансов, 2 курс, Высшая школа экономики.

1999

CONTENTS:

·

Reasons for choosing this topic.

·

The concept of alcohol.

ü

What is alcohol?

ü

Factors that influence alcohol’s effect.

ü

Immediate effects of alcohol.

·

The concept of alcohol dependence (alcoholism).

ü

What is alcoholism?

ü

What are the symptoms?

ü

Three distinct stages of alcoholism.

ü

Long- term effects of alcohol.

ü

Treating alcoholism.

·

Sociological research.

ü

Reasons for choosing the questionnaire as a method of my survey and asample design.

ü

The list of questions.

ü

The analysis of a data received.

·

Literature used.

Reasons for choosing this topic.

Though all people know the truth about theunprecedented guile of alcohol drinks, many of them fall in its skilfully set uptraps. This is because of the character of alcohol, which can force to likeitself, despite its harmful, sick and dissolute nature.

One sage said:“Wine brings four qualities to everyone, who drinks it. In the beginning, aperson starts looking like a peacock- he puffs, his motions are sail anddignified. Then, he gains a nature of a monkey and begins jesting and playingwith everyone. Afterwards, he likens himself with a lion and becomespresumptuous, proud, sure of his power. But at the end he changes into a pigand wallows in dirt”.

The worstthing is that drunkards and alcoholics, being carriers of negative views andstereotypes of antisocial behaviour, not only constantly break the rules andnorms of behaviour in different scopes of vital activity of people, but alsoactively promote the involvement in the drunkenness people around them,especially young.

It is stated by many studies that eachdrunkard and alcoholic renders demoralising influence on the average of 4-5persons from the nearest ambience.

For many centuries people tried to find themost effective facilities and ways of protecting the humanity from the ruinousinfluence of alcohol. They tried to develop measures on eliminating themultiple bad consequences of drunkenness and alcoholism, primarily the measureson rescuing, bringing back to a normal life a constantly increasing number ofvictims of alcohol.

The history of anti-alcoholic struggle hasleft many examples of using in these purposes different measures up to such radical,as a conclusion of drunkards in prisons, their physical punishment, executions,full prohibition of production and selling of alcohol drinks, e.t.c. However, aconsumption of alcohol continued to grow steadily, covering new groups andlayers of populations.

On the one hand one can suggest a continuousgrowing of the world alcohol consumption to be due to a weak efficiency ofmeasures used by the mankind against the dangerous social phenomena, on theother – due to a significant reinforcement of reasons and conditions, causingthe broad masses of population to fall in the alcohol dependence.

Until a recent time, the insufficienttheoretical development of questions, associated with spreading of an alcoholicconsumption, one-sided explanation of reasons of drunkenness and alcoholismrendered a negative influence upon the contents and direction of anti-alcoholicstruggle, on its strategy and tactics. Practice of an anti-alcoholic struggleshows that solving of concrete questions on warning and a displacing thenegative phenomenas is impossible without a deep study of the reasons, causingconsumption of alcohol beverages and promoting spreading a drunkenness andalcoholism.

That is why I chose this topic to bediscussed in my work. I really consider it to be a social problem almost asessential as the drug dependence. Unfortunately, I have a lack of time andexperience to cover all the aspects of it and to make a deep sociologicalinvestigation, but nevertheless I’ll try to do my best.

The concept of alcohol.

What isalcohol?

The active ingredient in all alcoholicbeverages is ethyl ethanol (alcohol), which is produced by yeast cells actingon carbohydrates in fruits and grains. Ethyl alcohol works much like ether,acting as an anaesthetic to put the brain to sleep. Alcohol is a centralnervous system depressant that slows down body functions such as heart rate andrespiration. Small quantities of alcohol may induce feelings of well being andrelaxation; but in larger amounts, alcohol can cause intoxication, sedation,unconsciousness and even death. There are three types of alcoholic beverages:

* Beer is fermented from grains andcontains three to six percent alcohol.
* Wine is fermented from fruit andnormally contains 12 to 14 percent alcohol. Fortified wines have additionalalcohol added and contain 18 to 20 percent alcohol. Wine coolers are a mixtureof fruit juice, sugar, and red or white wine, and contain four to seven percentalcohol (approximately the same alcoholic content as beer)
* Liquor is made from distilled(boiled off) alcohol and contains 40 to 50 percent alcohol. This is expressedas degrees of proof (two proof equals one percent alcohol). For example, 80proof liquor is 40 percent alcohol.

Factors thatinfluence alcohol’s effect.

Drinking has different effects on differentpeople, and the same amount of alcohol can affect the same person differentlyon different occasions. Four factors influence how alcohol affects people:

Amount ofAlcohol

. The more alcohol, the stronger the effects. A person may drink beer,wine, or whiskey; what matters is the amount of alcohol that is consumed.

BodyWeight. People who weigh more are less affected by the same amount ofalcohol than people who weigh less. Alcohol is water soluble heavier peoplehave more blood and water in their bodies, so the same amount of alcohol willbe more diluted. Gender also affects the influence of alcohol. Women have ahigher proportion of fat and a lower proportion of water in their bodies thanmen; therefore, a woman will have a higher blood alcohol content than a man whois of the same weight and who drinks the same amount.

Food.

Alcohol«goes to the head» more slowly if one has just eaten or if one eatswhile drinking. Food slows down the passage of alcohol from the stomach to thesmall intestine.

Attitudes.

What a person expects to happen after drinking has a lot to do withwhat does happen. A drinker who expects to get drunk is more likely to feel oract drunk.

In one study, an experienced group ofdrinkers was given a glass of something non-alcoholic but was told it containedalcohol. Most of the group still got drunk.

Immediate effects ofalcohol.

Whenconsumed, alcohol goes right to the stomach and passes through to the smallintestine, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. It takes about 30 secondsfor the first amounts of alcohol to reach the brain after ingestion. Oncethere, alcohol acts primarily on nerve cells deep in the brain.
 One drink for the average person (a12-ounce beer, five ounces of wine, or one and one-half ounces of 80-proofwhiskey) will create a feeling of relaxation. Two and a half drinks in an hourcan affect the drinker's judgement and lower inhibitions. Five drinks in twohours will raise the blood alcoholcontent (BAC) to. 1 0, the point of legal intoxication in most countries.
 After this amount of alcohol, theaverage drinker will experience blurred vision, slurred speech, poor musclecoordination, and a lack of rational judgement. Ten drinks will yield a BAC of0.20. It will take 1 0 hours for the alcohol to be completely metabolised.After more than 12 drinks, the BAC will rise to 0.30 and the drinker will be ina stupor. A BAC of O.40 to 0.50 will induce coma. A drinker in this conditionmay be near death because he could vomit and choke while unconscious. Breathingis likely to stop with a BAC of 0.60. The BAC can be measured by using abreath, urine or blood test. This amount is measured as a percentage — howmany parts of Alcohol to how many parts of blood.
 Eliminating alcohol from the body is along process. About 90 percent must be metabolised through the liver. Theremaining 10 percent is eliminated through the lungs and urine. It takes aboutone hour to eliminate one-half ounce of alcohol.
 Heavy drinking in a short period oftime will often cause a hangover the next day. A hangover is a sign of alcoholpoisoning; it is the body's reaction to alcohol withdrawal. Symptoms of ahangover include nausea, disorientation, headache, irritability and tremors.

The concept of alcoholdependence (alcoholism).

What isalcoholism?

The conception of inveterate drunkenness asa disease appears to be rooted in antiquity. The Roman philosopher Senecaclassified it as a form of insanity. The term alcoholism, however, appearsfirst in the classical essay «Alcoholismus Chronicus» (1849) by theSwedish physician Magnus Huss. The phrase chronic alcoholism rapidly became amedical term for the condition of habitual inebriety conceived as a disease;and the bearer of the disease was called an alcoholic or alcoholist (e.g., Italian alcoolisto, French alcoolique,German Alkoholiker, Spanish alcohólico, Swedish alkoholist).

Alcohol dependence, or alcoholism, ispsychological and/or physical reliance on alcohol. It is one of the most commonmedical illnesses seen by physicians. If you are dependent on alcohol, you feelor show a need for it when it is stopped. If you crave alcohol, or feeldistressed without it, you are said tobe psychologically dependent. If you have bodily changes when alcohol isstopped, such as hot and cold flashes and/or tremors, you are said to bephysically dependent.

Alcoholism is a primary, chronic diseasewith genetic, psychosocial and environmental factors influencing its developmentand manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It ischaracterised by continuous or periodic impaired control over drinking,preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverseconsequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial.
Currently there are three different theories to explain alcoholism:
* Genetic Theory defines alcoholismas the result of a predisposed reaction to alcohol due to chromosomes, genes orhormonal deficiencies.
* Psychological Theory definesalcoholism as a condition that exists in which people have a preset dispositionor personality that sets off a reaction to alcohol.

* Sociological Theory

defines alcoholism as a learned response and believes that addiction is aresult of the influences of society.

Whatever definition or theory is used, it isknown that alcoholism is a progressive illness that can be treated. Eachalcoholic has a different drinking pattern, but the one thing all alcoholicshave in common is an uncontrollable drinking habit.

What are thesymptoms?

Alcohol dependence takes many forms,including intermittent drinking, continuous drinking, and binge drinking. Manyalcoholics become able to drink ever larger quantities of alcohol beforefeeling or appearing drunk. Alcohol users commonly medicate themselves withalcohol, using it, often daily, to help them relax, as a confidence booster, orin order to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

Behavioural symptoms of people who are dependent onalcohol may include:

Trying to hideevidence of drinking

Promising togive up drinking

Drinkingstronger alcoholic beverages or starting to drink earlier in the day

Having longperiods of intoxication

Drinking alone

Problems atwork

Missing work

Blacking out

Loss ofinterest in food

Mood changes(anger, irritability, violent outbursts)

Personalitychanges (jealousy, paranoia)

Repeatedlydriving under the influence

Injuring selfor others while intoxicated

Carelessnessabout appearance

Slower thoughtprocesses, lack of concentration, confusion, trouble remembering things

Financialproblems caused by drinking.

Physical symptoms may include:

Nausea orshaking in the morning

Poor eatinghabits

Abdominal pain

Chronic crampsor diarrhoea

Numbness ortingling sensations

Weakness inthe legs and hands

Red eyes,face, and/or palms

Unsteadywalking or falls

New andworsening medical problems.

Three distinctstages of alcoholism.

* Early Stage.

A person in the earlystage of alcoholism uses alcohol as a coping device to relieve tension orescape from problems. The alcoholic must drink more and more to achieve thesame effect and has trouble stopping after one drink. The alcoholic makespromises to quit drinking but never follows through.
* Middle Stage. An alcoholic in themiddle stage of alcoholism cannot get through the day without alcohol and mayneed a drink in the morning to overcome the «shakes.» Themiddle-stage alcoholic will begin to manipulate others, lie about drinking, andmay drink in secret or hide alcohol. It is harder and harder to get the sameeffects as tolerance increases. Irregular heart beat, hypertension, loss ofappetite, irritability and insomnia are physical and psychological problems atthis stage. The alcoholic denies that drinking is a problem.
* Late Stage. The alcoholic nowlives to drink and avoids and distrusts others. All ambition is lost and thedrinker is unable to cope with responsibility and is often absent from work. Alate-stage alcoholic may suffer from reverse tolerance: the brain and liver canno longer tolerate a high level of alcohol, so the drinker becomes impairedafter even small amounts of alcohol. Malnutrition, nerve dysfunction, loss ofmemory, mental confusion, impaired vision, hypertension, heart disease andcirrhosis of the liver can occur during this stage. If drinking stops, Thereare severe withdrawal reactions. Late-stage psychological problems includeshame, guilt, severe depression, violent behaviour, low self-esteem, loss ofcontrol of emotions, loss of concentration and learning ability. At this point,the alcoholic «hits bottom.» The alcoholic may continue to drinkdespite pain or disability. The only viable alternative is to seek treatment.

Long- termeffects of alcohol.

Frequent and prolonged use of alcohol hasmany detrimental effects on the body. Heavy drinkers develop a tolerance foralcohol, which means that larger amounts of alcohol are needed to get thedesired effect. A drinker is physically dependent if withdrawal symptoms areexperienced when alcohol use is discontinued abruptly. Symptoms vary butinclude delirium tremors (the «DTs»), cramps, vomiting, elevatedblood pressure, sweating, dilated pupils, sleep problems, irritability andconvulsions. Most of these symptoms will subside in two to three days, thoughirritability and insomnia may last two to three weeks. Psychological dependenceoccurs when the drinker becomes so preoccupied with alcohol that it isdifficult to do without it. Short-term memory loss and blackouts are commonamong heavy drinkers. A blackout, which is an amnesia-like period oftenconfused with passing out or losing consciousness, results when the drinkerappears normal and may function normally; however, the person has no memory ofwhat has taken place. Research indicates that blackouts are associated withadvanced stages of alcoholism, and there is a correlation between the extentand duration of alcohol consumption during any given drinking episode and theoccurrence of blackouts.

Treating alcoholism.

The sooner alcoholism is detected, thebetter the chances of recovery. There are several effective treatment methodsfor alcoholism, and what works for one person may not work for another. Manyoptions should be explored when seeking help. Local or state healthorganisations can be contacted to find out what treatment alternatives exist ineach community.

Sociological research.

Reasons forchoosing the questionnaire as a method of my survey and a sample design.

I chose a questionnaire as a method of adata collection primarily because of the lack of ability (mostly time) to tryto conduct an interview. Secondary, I consider the interview to be theinappropriate type of a survey in the case of such a delicate problem asalcoholism. An interview, no matter formal or informal, might provide a largebias I the data, thus in the analysis, because many people may consider it tobe undesirable for them to let others know the bare truth about their lives.Moreover, an interview can not be anonymous (at least the interviewer would be initiatedin your problems). I also did not manage to avoid an overt participantobservation…

As this sociological research is of a smallscale (a sample of 36 persons) and was held among the students from oneuniversity (HSE), it did not include such complicated (and unnecessary in thiscase) methods of data collection as a telephone survey or mail survey, therefusals problem was eliminated. Though, just because of the samecircumstances, it has a bias of representing only the smallest part of the Russianyouth: Moscow students and myresearch would be more descriptive than analysing.

The multistage sample was conducted in thefollowing way: 4 out 5 specialities were observed (I did not have the access tojurisprudence) and the representatives were chosen by a random sampling (usingthe table of random digits and student lists) according to a proportion ofnumber of students on each speciality. Thus I have got 14 representatives ofthe economic speciality, 10- of management, 8- of sociological and 4- of theICEF.

Considering the fact that I dealt withstudents, I was not afraid of personal questions. Students, as young and openclass of population, are far from being embarrassed when they are asked such.

The list ofquestions.

1. Your sex:

M___ F____

3. Yourspeciality?

A) Economics B) Management C) Sociology D) ICEF

2. Yourattitude to the alcohol ?

А) Negative

B) Simply donot like, when there is someone drunk beside me.

C) Neutral

D) Positive

3. Do you drink alcohol?

А) Yes C) Did not ever try.

B) No

4. If not,why? ______________________________________________

5. If yes, inwhat age did you try it the first time (approximately)?

A) 5-10 years D) 15-17 years

B) 10-13 years E) 17 and over

C) 13-15 years

6. How oftendo you drink alcohol?

А) Almostevery day B) Less than three times a week

C) Less thantwo times a month

7. Do yourparents drink (in general)?

А) No C) Yes, only mother

B) Yes, only father D) Both

8. With whomdo you usually drink (the most often case)?

А) Withfriends from the university B) Withother friend/buddies

C) Withparents

9. Can you drink alone?

А) Yes,happened to be B) No

10. Do you drink to overcome a hangover?

А) Yes B) Yes, but not in themorning

C) Never

11. Do you need some reason for drinking alcohollike Birthday or another holiday?

А) Yes,always B) Not necessarily.

12. How can you classify your alcoholicconsumption?

А) I have nodependency

B) I havesome warnings about my dependency

C) Onlypsychological dependency

D) Physicaldependency.

13. Do youcare about the amount of alcohol you drink per day? (Several answers are possible)

А) Yes

B) No

C) No, ifthere is no my girlfriend/boyfriend beside me.

D) No, if myparents wouldn’t see/know.

E) No, if itis a big holiday (I can allow myself)

14. What alcohol beverage do you drink in themost often case?

А) Beer

B) Cocktails(Gin-Tonic, etc.)

C) Wine,Aperitifs (Martini, Karelia ,etc.) orchampaign

D) Strongalcoholic drinks (Vodka, Cognac, Scotch and etc.)

15. Have you ever tried to give up drinking?

А) Yes B) No

16. Have youever tried to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed?

А) Yes, itworked B) Yes, it did not work

C) No

17. Would youdrink less, if parents set up more strict requirements to your behaviour?

А) Yes B) No

18. Would youdrink less, if they ceased to give you pocket money?

А) Yes

B) No, I wouldtake a loan, but will drink/somebody would treat. C) No, I earn money myself.

19. Comparingwith the previous year, do you drink:

А) Less/lessfrequent C) As much/with the same frequency

B) More/moreoften

20. Didalcohol affect your study results, from your point of view?

А) No B) Yes, they become better C) Yes, they become worse.

21. How didyou pass the previous exams/entry exams?

A) Excellent B) Well

C) Satisfactory D) Failed

22. Why do you drink alcohol? (Several answersare possible)

А) To removestress

B) To raisethe mood

C) To supportto company

D) Tocelebrate some holiday

E) Yourvariant of answer_________________________________

23. Do you care, what others think, when they seeyou drunken? (Except people, who knowyou)

А) No, ifthey are not policemen B) Yes

24. Have youever had extrinsic behavioural manifestations (aggressiveness/depression) connectedwith the consumption of alcohol?

А) Yes B) No

25. Did youhave blackouts (of a non- traumatic nature)?

А) Yes,once/sometimes B) No

26. Do you smoke?

А) Yes

B) No

27. Do you take drugs, even the weakest ones?

А) Yes, havetried once C) Yes

B) Yes, butvery- very rarely D) No

The analysisof a data received.

I have got 21 male and 15 femalerespondents. Among these people there are only 1 men and 1 women who do notdrink alcohol at all.

Theattitude towards the alcohol is distributed as following: 39% — positive (amongthem: 13- men and only 1 woman); 39%- neutral (among them: 6 men and 8 women);22%- simply do not like, when there is someone drunk beside them (among them: 2men and 6 women) and none of the respondents said that their attitude isnegative.

<img src="/cache/referats/9886/image004.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_s1030">
 29% of male and 27% of femalerespondents have parents who do not drink at all. 4% of male and 13% of femalestudents have only father who drinks (in general) and 4% and 6% respectively-only mother. The percentage of both parents drinking (in general) is 62 for menand 53 for women. This way the difference between the current and the nextgeneration (the youth) can be shown. As we see from this data, the percentageof non-drinking parents is far from 1/21 and 1/15 (5% and 7%) of theiroffsprings. Most of the men drink with their friends from the university (55%)and the largest part of female responses to this question fall on the answerB)-with other friends/buddies (50%).

The next few questions I consider to berather interesting, because they primarily deal with the alcoholic dependencyand its stages. The question about drinking alone as one of a symptom ofalcoholism brought up the results of 50% of male students who could do this,and only 29% of female who have also chosen this answer. Drinking to overcome ahangover is normal for 55% of men and 14% of women. Doing the same thing at anytime except mornings is suitable for 15% and 7% of students respectively. Andonly 30% of men and 79% of women consider this to be “not their style”.Unfortunately, as much as 85% of men and 64% of women do not need a normalreason for drinking like celebrating some party, etc. Two out of 20 malerespondents and two out of 14 female have doubts about their dependency and 2men consider themselves to be psychologically dependent already.

<img src="/cache/referats/9886/image007.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_s1055 _x0000_s1057">
 From the graph above we can seethe following interesting fact: none of the women do not care about thepresence of the their boyfriends while they are drinking and male respondentsdo not take their parents into consideration deciding haw many drinks to have.

Here we can see the tendency of malestudents usually drinking beer or strong alcoholic drinks, and females usuallydrinking cocktails of aperitifs.

The question concerned ever trying to giveup drinking and never following though was aimed to reveal one of the symptomsof the first stage of alcohol dependency. The results were: 30% of men and 14 %of women tried to do so. 25% of men and no females tried to reduce the amountof alcohol consumed and succeeded and 5% and 7% respectively tried but did notsucceed in reducing it.

<img src="/cache/referats/9886/image009.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_s1033">
 Only 30% of males and 7% of thefemales would reduce the amount consumed if their parents were stricter abouttheir behaviour. But if they cease to give them pocket money 40% of malerespondents and 43% of female respondents would do it.

<img src="/cache/referats/9886/image011.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_s1034">
 Only 20% of men and 14% ofwomen consider their study success to be dependent from the results shown onthe graph above.

50% of males and 36% of females wrote, thatthey drink to raise their mood; 20% and 10%- to support the company; 15% and20%- to remove the stress; 15% and 34%- to celebrate some holiday respectively.

Almost 80% of males and 21% of females saidthat there don’t care what others (not those, whom they are aquatinted with andif they were nit policemen) would think if they saw them drunken. The answersto the question “Have you ever had extrinsic behavioural manifestations(aggressiveness/depression) connected with the consumption of alcohol?” are 35%of male respondents and 14% of female said “yes” and 65% and 86%- “no”. 40% ofmales and 14% of

<img src="/cache/referats/9886/image013.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_s1052">
females have already got aquatinted with blackouts.

From my point of view, these results aremuch like the real ones, as I am also a student and I am doing the overtobservation of all this every day. The situation seems to be catastrophic, andsomething should be done about it.

Literature used.

1.

Britannica encyclopaedia ’99.

2.

Socis magazine № 5,3,8 1997 ;№ 10 1998

3.

http://search1.healthgate.com/hid/alcoholism/

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