Underage Drinking in Blue Mountains NSW: Health and Family Impact

Introduction

Underage drinking is a threat to the public health of Blue Mountains, as well as to the security and social stability of its families. According to the findings of a study on youth health patterns in Blue Mountains conducted by the Mountains Youth Services Team (MYST) and the Blue Mountains Youth Mental Illness and Substance Abuse Reference Group (YMISA), patterns of adolescent alcohol abuse are particularly high in Blue Mountains compared to regional averages in NSW. This highlights the importance of the proposed research in determining how Blue Mountains and NSW as a whole compare to national and international averages concerning adolescent alcohol abuse.

The first step in conducting such a study is determining how best to collect data from a population sample in Blue Mountains in a way that can be applied to comparative discussion of trends at the Australian and international levels. The discussion that follows will identify the problem at the center of the research and contextualize it according to the particulars of the Blue Mountains population, drawing preliminary comparisons to Australian and international figures on underage alcohol abuse. Subsequently, the research discussion will engage in a literature-driven identification of modes of participant selection, materials, and procedures that have previously yielded success. The research methodology outlined will be informed by these findings.

At the center of this research proposal is the view that underage drinking is a critical health problem affecting Blue Mountains at a particularly high rate. As the Discussion section further elaborates, adolescent alcohol abuse patterns and risk behaviors precipitating alcohol abuse in Blue Mountains are largely attributable to the behaviors of young men in the region. This suggests a number of dimensions to the problem that must be incorporated into data collection and the analysis of findings. In particular, there appears to be a gender-driven variable in relation to underage drinking that necessitates acknowledgement during the research design and implementation phases. Moreover, it may be deduced that certain cultural factors are at play in influencing the apparently elevated levels of underage alcohol abuse found in Blue Mountains. Therefore, the research methodology will reflect the need to understand certain cultural features present in Blue Mountains through a qualitative approach.

Problem Statement

These dimensions of gender and culture underlie considerations about the social, familial, and health consequences of underage alcohol consumption. These consequences are drivers for this study, which is predicated on the view that the high levels of alcohol consumption found in Blue Mountains are negative health behaviors that it falls upon the communities and governance of Blue Mountains to confront. That said, this problem must first be articulated through well-developed and objective research. The focus of the study proposed here will be on youth behaviors in Blue Mountains, with a particular emphasis on alcohol consumption within a population of adolescent minors and with a broader focus on the various social, cultural, familial, educational, behavioral, and emotional consequences experienced by youth respondents.

The discussion of the problem stated above must begin with an identification of the research that helps to inform the concern expressed here. Research by Black (2009), which records the findings of the MYST and the YMISA, suggests several troubling patterns that appear to confirm the hypothesis of the present research. Using local youth populations to produce a set of comparative statistics, Black reports that whereas males between the ages of 16 and 24 throughout NSW are said to be at high risk for alcohol consumption at a rate of 24.2%, a far greater 51.1% of males in the same age bracket in Blue Mountains are said to be at high risk. By contrast, females in the same age bracket from NSW and Blue Mountains reported being at high risk at rates of 15% and 15.5% respectively (Black, p. 4). Black indicates that "levels of high-risk alcohol consumption are certainly higher for Blue Mountains young people than for NSW. This is due to the higher levels of risk and high risk reported for young males" (Black, p. 3).

Black's findings contribute several key elements to the research proposed here. First, the presentation of data demonstrates the usefulness of a comparative approach, revealing the abnormal level of alcohol consumption in Blue Mountains relative to broader NSW. This helps to inform the procedure for the eventual process of data analysis. Additionally, the findings offer some insight into desired participant groups. Framing the at-risk population as being between the ages of 16 and 24 poses a difficulty in ascertaining that all respondents are inherently at risk of problem drinking. The present research mitigates this conflict by framing all underage drinking as problem drinking. It therefore seems appropriate to reconsider the participant group with respect to the age factor so as to more precisely identify the problems set out in the problem statement.

Discussion of Key Literature

Another important feature of Black's research is its framing of populations according to gender, which demonstrates a remarkable distinction between gendered behaviors in Blue Mountains that does not appear to be present throughout NSW. The procedure for the research proposed here will therefore use gender as a major research variable. This distinction is expected to help unlock some of the questions concerning culture and what motivates individuals to drink before they are of legal age.

Another way of measuring cultural imperatives as they relate to patterns of underage drinking is to consider the way underage drinking permeates nations beyond Australia. The comparative approach between NSW and Blue Mountains suggests something distinctive about Blue Mountains that makes it culturally vulnerable to underage drinking. The text by Martinic and Measham (2008) is particularly useful to this end. This collection of essays offers a deconstruction of underage drinking patterns and their explanations through a host of sample countries. The research reveals underage alcohol consumption to be a highly socialized condition and reinforces the intention of the present research to engage in comparative examination of youth alcohol abuse patterns.

Accordingly, Martinic and Measham provide explicit instructions by which a major portion of the research methodology will be conducted, describing the focus group as an essential instrument for gathering qualitative data on how particular youth populations view the social cachet of alcohol consumption, how they perceive laws concerning alcohol consumption, and how they perceive recreational intoxication. This, they argue, can be used as the basis for national comparative studies. As they indicate, "the results of the focus groups will be compiled and compared across cultures. They are intended to inform work on policy development" (Martinic & Measham, p. 263).

This reinforces both the comparative approach and the focus on culture identified as major research interests. In addition, the study by Henderson (2004) helps to create a framework through which aspects of culture can be assessed qualitatively. Henderson uses "sense of self" as a primary factor prefiguring substance abuse and contextualizes this further according to parental involvement in the life of the youth in question. This mode of assessing the subject matter is particularly useful to the research proposed here, which must complement a survey instrument as the primary data collection material. Beyond the focus group, as the Methodology section indicates, a survey must be constructed that can help to reflect some of these critical cultural factors. Henderson's study will therefore be a key source in designing this research instrument.

The argument of particular value to the present research is Henderson's claim that those with a low sense of self — as defined according to survey findings — are more likely to engage in substance abuse and underage alcohol consumption. Distributing a self-administered survey to 2,753 respondents in grades 6 through 12, Henderson found that "teens rated themselves according to characteristics tied to the adolescent developmental tasks of Identity, Independence, and Peer Relations. A composite profile rating each participant as high, medium, or low Sense of Self was developed and then correlated to three psychographic profiles, or 'decision-types'" (Henderson, p. 3).

These types are identified as Avoiders, Experimenters, and Repeaters, named with respect to their relationship to drug and alcohol use. Henderson found a direct correlation between these types and low or high sense of self. Furthermore, Henderson found that parental involvement was directly correlated to a high sense of self and an Avoider decision-type. Though the present research may not adapt the same exact framing or identification of decision types, this does offer insight into how a survey might be constructed to correlate familial conditions, culture, gender, and alcohol abuse. The population selected in Henderson's study — students between grades 6 and 12 — also seems an appropriate model for the present study. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism similarly identifies adolescent developmental factors as central to understanding why young people begin drinking.

The literature discussed above helps to lay out the two major phases of the intended research methodology. First, it is appropriate to identify the research hypothesis: that higher-than-normal underage alcohol consumption patterns in Blue Mountains are the result of cultural features specific to the male adolescent experience in the region. This hypothesis will be supported by comparative data between underage drinking patterns in Blue Mountains and those seen across NSW, Australia, and the international community. Such data will be gathered through survey and focus group engagement.