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| Substance abuse: Alcohol Consumption and alcohol dependence among the youth (Социологическое исследование проблемы алкоголизма среди студентов)Substance abuse: Alcohol Consumption and alcohol dependence among the youth (Социологическое исследование проблемы алкоголизма среди студентов)ICEF, GROUP 2/2 Tutor: Yulia Poltorak Student: Matyukhin Anton reSearch Paper on Sociology Substance abuse: Alcohol Consumption and alcohol dependence among the youth. Международный институт экономики и финансов, 2 курс, Высшая школа экономики. 1999 . Reasons for choosing this topic. V What is alcohol? V Factors that influence alcohol’s effect. V Immediate effects of alcohol. V What is alcoholism? V What are the symptoms? V Three distinct stages of alcoholism. V Long- term effects of alcohol. V Treating alcoholism. V Reasons for choosing the questionnaire as a method of my survey and a sample design. V The list of questions. V The analysis of a data received. Reasons for choosing this topic. Though all people know the truth about the unprecedented guile of alcohol drinks, many of them fall in its skilfully set up traps. This is because of the character of alcohol, which can force to like itself, despite its harmful, sick and dissolute nature. One sage said: “Wine brings four qualities to everyone, who drinks it. The worst thing is that drunkards and alcoholics, being carriers of negative views and stereotypes of antisocial behaviour, not only constantly break the rules and norms of behaviour in different scopes of vital activity of people, but also actively promote the involvement in the drunkenness people around them, especially young. It is stated by many studies that each drunkard and alcoholic renders demoralising influence on the average of 4-5 persons from the nearest ambience. For many centuries people tried to find the most effective facilities
and ways of protecting the humanity from the ruinous influence of alcohol. The history of anti-alcoholic struggle has left 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, a consumption of alcohol continued to grow steadily, covering new groups and layers of populations. On the one hand one can suggest a continuous growing of the world alcohol consumption to be due to a weak efficiency of measures used by the mankind against the dangerous social phenomena, on the other – due to a significant reinforcement of reasons and conditions, causing the broad masses of population to fall in the alcohol dependence. Until a recent time, the insufficient theoretical development of questions, associated with spreading of an alcoholic consumption, one-sided explanation of reasons of drunkenness and alcoholism rendered a negative influence upon the contents and direction of anti-alcoholic struggle, on its strategy and tactics. Practice of an anti-alcoholic struggle shows that solving of concrete questions on warning and a displacing the negative phenomenas is impossible without a deep study of the reasons, causing consumption of alcohol beverages and promoting spreading a drunkenness and alcoholism. That is why I chose this topic to be discussed in my work. I really consider it to be a social problem almost as essential as the drug dependence. Unfortunately, I have a lack of time and experience to cover all the aspects of it and to make a deep sociological investigation, but nevertheless I’ll try to do my best. The concept of alcohol. The active ingredient in all alcoholic beverages is ethyl ethanol * Wine is fermented from fruit and normally contains 12 to 14 percent alcohol. Fortified wines have additional alcohol added and contain 18 to 20 percent alcohol. Wine coolers are a mixture of fruit juice, sugar, and red or white wine, and contain four to seven percent alcohol (approximately the same alcoholic content as beer) * Liquor is made from distilled (boiled off) alcohol and contains 40 to 50
percent alcohol. This is expressed as degrees of proof (two proof equals
one percent alcohol). For example, 80 proof liquor is 40 percent alcohol. Drinking has different effects on different people, and the same amount
of alcohol can affect the same person differently on different occasions. Amount of Alcohol. 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. Body Weight. People who weigh more are less affected by the same amount
of alcohol than people who weigh less. Alcohol is water soluble heavier
people have more blood and water in their bodies, so the same amount of
alcohol will be more diluted. Gender also affects the influence of alcohol. Food. Alcohol "goes to the head" more slowly if one has just eaten or if one eats while drinking. Food slows down the passage of alcohol from the stomach to the small intestine. Attitudes. What a person expects to happen after drinking has a lot to do with what does happen. A drinker who expects to get drunk is more likely to feel or act drunk. In one study, an experienced group of drinkers was given a glass of
something non-alcoholic but was told it contained alcohol. Most of the
group still got drunk. When consumed, alcohol goes right to the stomach and passes through to the small intestine, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. It takes about 30 seconds for the first amounts of alcohol to reach the brain after ingestion. Once there, alcohol acts primarily on nerve cells deep in the brain. One drink for the average person (a 12-ounce beer, five ounces of wine, or one and one-half ounces of 80-proof whiskey) will create a feeling of relaxation. Two and a half drinks in an hour can affect the drinker's judgement and lower inhibitions. Five drinks in two hours will raise the blood alcohol content (BAC) to. 1 0, the point of legal intoxication in most countries. After this amount of alcohol, the average drinker will experience
blurred vision, slurred speech, poor muscle coordination, and a lack of
rational judgement. Ten drinks will yield a BAC of 0.20. 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 in a stupor. A Eliminating alcohol from the body is a long process. About 90 percent must be metabolised through the liver. The remaining 10 percent is eliminated through the lungs and urine. It takes about one hour to eliminate one-half ounce of alcohol. Heavy drinking in a short period of time will often cause a hangover the next day. A hangover is a sign of alcohol poisoning; it is the body's reaction to alcohol withdrawal. Symptoms of a hangover include nausea, disorientation, headache, irritability and tremors. The concept of alcohol dependence (alcoholism). The conception of inveterate drunkenness as a disease appears to be
rooted in antiquity. The Roman philosopher Seneca classified it as a form
of insanity. The term alcoholism, however, appears first in the classical
essay "Alcoholismus Chronicus" (1849) by the Swedish physician Magnus Huss. Alcohol dependence, or alcoholism, is psychological and/or physical reliance on alcohol. It is one of the most common medical illnesses seen by physicians. If you are dependent on alcohol, you feel or show a need for it when it is stopped. If you crave alcohol, or feel distressed without it, you are said to be psychologically dependent. If you have bodily changes when alcohol is stopped, such as hot and cold flashes and/or tremors, you are said to be physically dependent. Alcoholism is a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterised by continuous or periodic impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial. Currently there are three different theories to explain alcoholism: * Genetic Theory defines alcoholism as the result of a predisposed reaction to alcohol due to chromosomes, genes or hormonal deficiencies. * Psychological Theory defines alcoholism as a condition that exists in
which people have a preset disposition or personality that sets off a
reaction to alcohol. Whatever definition or theory is used, it is known that alcoholism is a
progressive illness that can be treated. Each alcoholic has a different
drinking pattern, but the one thing all alcoholics have in common is an
uncontrollable drinking habit. Alcohol dependence takes many forms, including intermittent drinking,
continuous drinking, and binge drinking. Many alcoholics become able to
drink ever larger quantities of alcohol before feeling or appearing drunk. Behavioural symptoms of people who are dependent on alcohol may include: * Middle Stage. An alcoholic in the middle stage of alcoholism cannot get through the day without alcohol and may need a drink in the morning to overcome the "shakes." The middle-stage alcoholic will begin to manipulate others, lie about drinking, and may drink in secret or hide alcohol. It is harder and harder to get the same effects as tolerance increases. Irregular heart beat, hypertension, loss of appetite, irritability and insomnia are physical and psychological problems at this stage. The alcoholic denies that drinking is a problem. * Late Stage. The alcoholic now lives to drink and avoids and distrusts
others. All ambition is lost and the drinker is unable to cope with
responsibility and is often absent from work. A late-stage alcoholic may
suffer from reverse tolerance: the brain and liver can no longer tolerate a
high level of alcohol, so the drinker becomes impaired after even small
amounts of alcohol. Malnutrition, nerve dysfunction, loss of memory, mental
confusion, impaired vision, hypertension, heart disease and cirrhosis of
the liver can occur during this stage. If drinking stops, There are severe
withdrawal reactions. Late-stage psychological problems include shame,
guilt, severe depression, violent behaviour, low self-esteem, loss of
control of emotions, loss of concentration and learning ability. At this
point, the alcoholic "hits bottom." The alcoholic may continue to drink
despite pain or disability. The only viable alternative is to seek
treatment. Frequent and prolonged use of alcohol has many detrimental effects on
the body. Heavy drinkers develop a tolerance for alcohol, which means that
larger amounts of alcohol are needed to get the desired effect. A drinker
is physically dependent if withdrawal symptoms are experienced when alcohol
use is discontinued abruptly. Symptoms vary but include delirium tremors The sooner alcoholism is detected, the better the chances of recovery. I chose a questionnaire as a method of a data collection primarily
because of the lack of ability (mostly time) to try to conduct an
interview. Secondary, I consider the interview to be the inappropriate type
of a survey in the case of such a delicate problem as alcoholism. An
interview, no matter formal or informal, might provide a large bias I the
data, thus in the analysis, because many people may consider it to be
undesirable for them to let others know the bare truth about their lives. As this sociological research is of a small scale (a sample of 36 persons) and was held among the students from one university (HSE), it did not include such complicated (and unnecessary in this case) methods of data collection as a telephone survey or mail survey, the refusals problem was eliminated. Though, just because of the same circumstances, it has a bias of representing only the smallest part of the Russian youth: Moscow students and my research would be more descriptive than analysing. The multistage sample was conducted in the following way: 4 out 5
specialities were observed (I did not have the access to jurisprudence) and
the representatives were chosen by a random sampling (using the table of
random digits and student lists) according to a proportion of number of
students on each speciality. Thus I have got 14 representatives of the
economic speciality, 10- of management, 8- of sociological and 4- of the Considering the fact that I dealt with students, I was not afraid of
personal questions. Students, as young and open class of population, are
far from being embarrassed when they are asked such. No, I earn money myself. B) No 27. Do you take drugs, even the weakest ones? The analysis of a data received. I have got 21 male and 15 female respondents. Among these people there
are only 1 men and 1 women who do not drink alcohol at all. 29% of male and 27% of female respondents have parents who do not drink
at all. 4% of male and 13% of female students have only father who drinks The next few questions I consider to be rather interesting, because they
primarily deal with the alcoholic dependency and its stages. The question
about drinking alone as one of a symptom of alcoholism 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 a hangover is normal
for 55% of men and 14% of women. Doing the same thing at any time except
mornings is suitable for 15% and 7% of students respectively. And only 30%
of men and 79% of women consider this to be “not their style”. From the graph above we can see the following interesting fact: none of the women do not care about the presence of the their boyfriends while they are drinking and male respondents do not take their parents into consideration deciding haw many drinks to have. Here we can see the tendency of male students usually drinking beer or strong alcoholic drinks, and females usually drinking cocktails of aperitifs. The question concerned ever trying to give up drinking and never following though was aimed to reveal one of the symptoms of 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 amount of alcohol consumed and succeeded and 5% and 7% respectively tried but did not succeed in reducing it. Only 30% of males and 7% of the females would reduce the amount consumed if their parents were stricter about their behaviour. But if they cease to give them pocket money 40% of male respondents and 43% of female respondents would do it. Only 20% of men and 14% of women consider their study success to be dependent from the results shown on the graph above. 50% of males and 36% of females wrote, that they drink to raise their mood; 20% and 10%- to support the company; 15% and 20%- to remove the stress; 15% and 34%- to celebrate some holiday respectively. Almost 80% of males and 21% of females said that there don’t care what
others (not those, whom they are aquatinted with and if they were nit
policemen) would think if they saw them drunken. The answers to the
question “Have you ever had extrinsic behavioural manifestations From my point of view, these results are much like the real ones, as I
am also a student and I am doing the overt observation of all this every
day. The situation seems to be catastrophic, and something should be done
about it.
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