Companions, Media Images Influence Decision to Drink Alcohol
By Hugh C. McBride
There’s a simple reason that companies spend thousands (and, in some cases, millions) of dollars on media campaigns and viral marketing efforts to entice consumers to purchase their products. Why? Because it works.
Unfortunately, the same psychological principles that prompt Americans to stock up on Doritos and Duracells may also predispose them to engage in more unhealthy activities, which may pose a problem to individuals who wish to remain sober or who are struggling to overcome a dependence upon alcohol.
Studies Say Seeing = Doing
Two studies that were conducted at Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, have cast significant statistical light on the relationship between seeing and doing.
The first study determined that men and women who observe members of the same sex drinking alcohol are more likely to drink alcohol themselves. The second one found that young men’s desire to drink is influenced by what they see on television. Both of these studies were published Feb. 23, 2009 on the website of the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.
In the first study, the Dutch researchers analyzed the behavior of 135 young adults (70 women and 65 men). According to the online abstract of the study, research highlights include the following:
- In abar lab, the subjects were exposed to eithera non-drinking, a light-drinking, or a heavy-drinking person (of the same sexas the subject) in a 30-minute time-out session.
- The study participants were allowed to drink alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.
- The participants consumed substantiallymore alcohol when exposed to heavy-drinking models comparedto light- and non-drinking models. Craving levels were positivelyrelated to alcohol consumption during the experiment.
The effect of the same-sex models’ drinking behaviors appeared to be consistent among the male and female subjects, the researchers reported (indicating that both young men and young women will drink greater amounts of alcohol when in the company of those who are doing the same).
The Power of the Media
The second study, which evaluated the effect of media images on drinking desire, limited itself to male subjects. The researchers recruited 40 male students, each of whom was directed to bring a friend to the lab. A March 3 article by Daniel DeNoon of WebMD Health News provided the following highlights of this research effort:
· The average man in the study drank 21 glasses of alcohol each week. To get a statistically significant result, the researchers had to control for the men's self-reported drinking behavior.
· Each of the 40 pairs was seated in a specially equipped lab that had a comfy couch, a big TV screen, a small table with chips or nuts, and a refrigerator stocked with beer, wine, and soft drinks.
· Hidden cameras recorded the men's behavior as they watched a movie that celebrated alcohol consumption (American Pie 2) or a movie with relatively little drinking (40 Days and 40 Nights). Each movie was interrupted twice for commercial breaks that either included or did not include ads for alcoholic beverages.
· The researchers found that men who watched the "alcoholic movie" with alcohol ads drank one-and-a-half more beers or glasses of wine than men who watched the movie with less drinking and the non-alcohol ads.
Though the researchers believe that their results indicate the degree to which media images can influence the drinking decisions of young men, they acknowledge that the presence of a friend may also have contributed to the levels of alcohol intake. “It might have been that a movie in which a lot of partying is involved triggers a social process between two participants that affects drinking amounts,” they said in the WebMDarticle.
Implications
The conclusions of these Dutch studies have implications that extend beyond the psychology of consumerism. In addition to providing a better understanding of factors that may influence young people to begin drinking, or drink more than they intended to, they may also provide recovering individuals with a greater awareness of events and situations that could trigger a relapse.
The studies may also provide scientific support for legislative efforts to limit the amount of alcohol marketing that young people are exposed to. The two Dutch studies and a Dartmouth report about the relationship between owning alcohol-branded merchandise and drinking at a young age were cited in an Australian news article about an effort in that nation to curtail alcohol advertising on television.
Young people who abuse alcohol are at an increased risk for developing a dependence that can derail their plans for the future, and jeopardize their health and well-being. Understanding the reasons why young people decide to drink can help parents, caregivers, health care professionals, and substance abuse experts counteract these influences or at least be better prepared to deal with their repercussions.
