ArticleBMJ open2020
Qualitative exploration of the intersection between social influences and cultural norms in relation to the development of alcohol use behaviour during adolescence.
Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Effect of Exposure to Alcohol Media Content on Young People's Alcohol Use: A Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence and factors associated with substance use among adolescent girls and young women working in artisanal and small-scale gold mining communities of Uganda: a cross-sectional exploratory study.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2026Article
- The Prevalence and Correlates of Youth Susceptibility to Gambling among a Sample of Australian Secondary School Students.Journal of gambling studies · 2026Article
- Optimal control and stability analysis of an alcoholism model with treatment centers.MethodsX · 2025Article
- Drivers of illicit alcohol consumption among at-risk populations aged 15-29 years old in Zambia: a qualitative perspective.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Developing a text-message library for tobacco prevention among adolescents: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Hemichannels contribute to mitochondrial CaFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Article
- A qualitative analysis of adolescents' perspectives on peer and influencer alcohol-related posts on social media.Drug and alcohol review · 2024Article
- Framing substance use as "recreational" is neither accurate nor helpful for prevention purposes.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2023Article
- Adolescents' perceptions of alcohol portrayals in the media and their impact on cognitions and behaviors.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2023Article
- Covid-19 shelter-in-place, modified reopening orders, and order compliance impact on adolescent alcohol use and drinking contexts in California: A longitudinal analysis.Addictive behaviors · 2023Article
- The Alcohol Industry and Social Responsibility: Links to FASD.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Are we overlooking alcohol use by younger children?BMJ paediatrics open · 2022Review
- Qualitative Evaluation of Web-Based Digital Intervention to Prevent and Reduce Excessive Alcohol Use and Harm Among Young People Aged 14-15 Years: A "Think-Aloud" Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesFew contemporary studies have examined peer and social drivers of alcohol use during mid-adolescence. We sought to explore young people's perspectives on socio-cultural influences relating to alcohol use behaviour during this period.
designQualitative research study.
methodsSemi-structured one-to-one (n=25), paired (n=4) or triad (n=1) interviews and one focus group (n=6) were conducted with 30 young people aged 14 to 15 (13 males, 17 females) recruited from 4 schools, and 12 participants (aged 14 to 18, 8 males, 4 females) recruited from two youth groups in an urban centre in the West of England. Nineteen participants abstained from alcohol use, 9 were occasional or moderate drinkers and 14 drank alcohol more regularly. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using NVivo V.10, through a lens of social influence and social norms theories.
resultsAlcohol consumption was associated with being cool, mature and popular, while enabling escape from reality and boosting confidence and enjoyment. Positive expectancies, alongside opportunity, contributed to motivating initiation, but social influences were paramount, with participants describing a need to 'fit in' with friends to avoid social exclusion. Such influences positioned drinking at parties as a normative social practice, providing opportunities for social learning and the strengthening of peer norms. Social media presented young people with positive alcohol-associated depictions of social status, enjoyment and maturity. This intersection of influences and norms generated a pressurised environment and a sense of unease around resisting pressures, which could elicit stigmatising insults.
conclusionsCultural norms, social influences and social media intersect to create a pressurised environment around alcohol use during mid-adolescence, driving the escalation in the prevalence of excessive consumption at this stage. New interventions need to address normative influences to enable the prevention of excessive alcohol use during adolescence.
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