Objective: Self-affirmation theory proposes that defensive processing prevents people from accepting health-risk messages, which may explain university students' dismissal of risk-information about binge drinking. SA-interventions may encourage non-biased processing of such information through impacting on interpersonal feelings and self-esteem.…

This study explored demographic and psychological predictors of alcohol use and misuse in a high-functioning, community sample of 237 autistic adults aged 18-75 (mean = 41.92 and standard deviation = 13.3) recruited in the United Kingdom. An online survey measured demographic information, autistic traits, depression, generalised anxiety, social…

Objective: Alcohol misuse prevention often fails to account for or replace the pleasurable benefits of drinking such as relaxing and socialising with friends. Increasingly, alcohol-free dance music events are emerging, allowing people to gain the positive outcomes of dancing without recourse to alcohol. This study sought to explore whether…

Purpose: Many existing interventions to reduce excessive drinking in university students attempt to target individual cognitions, which ignore the wider contextual features that drive excessive drinking and mark this as an important aspect of university life. The purpose of this paper is to explore students' views about preventing excessive…

Background: Extended brief interventions for alcohol misuse are effective in the general population. The process of manualising the first ever such intervention for people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities in the UK is the focus of this study. Methods: The manual was an adaptation of existing manuals based on Motivational Enhancement…

Objectives: There has been an increased focus in policy discourse on individuals with severe, multiple and complex needs. This paper seeks to understand how best to enable these individuals to take greater control over their health. Design: Qualitative, user-led, peer research. Setting: Large urban UK city. Method: Trained peer researchers with…

Setting: The United Kingdom (UK) government has acknowledged that there is a problem with excess alcohol consumption, in particular amongst young people. Higher education is an important health promotion setting in which to explore not only how sensible drinking patterns can be facilitated and embedded in students' current lifestyles but also how…

Adolescent future values--beliefs about what will matter to them in the future--may shape their adult behavior. Utilizing a national longitudinal British sample, this study examined whether adolescent future values in six domains (i.e., family responsibility, full-time job, personal responsibility, autonomy, civic responsibility, and hedonistic…

This article considers the transmission of drinking cultures within families. In particular, we highlight the differential and discursive construction of the home as a space where parents/carers are happy to introduce children to alcohol in a "safe" environment in opposition to public spaces which they consider to be locations where…

Objective: To assess the extent to which university students are following UK Government advice regarding appropriate consumption of alcohol, and to investigate if students can be placed into distinct clusters based on their drinking behaviour. Design: A descriptive questionnaire study. Setting: One hundred and nineteen undergraduate students from…

Currently, there exists relatively scant sociological research on the identities of first-year UK university students, and specifically those holding a strong Christian identity. Employing a symbolic interactionist framework, this article explores issues of identity construction amongst a group of first-year undergraduate students based at a UK…

In this longitudinal ethnographic research, we report on 7 years of hazing rituals on two separate men's sports teams at one university in the United Kingdom. Using 38 in-depth interviews alongside naturalistic observations of the initiation rituals, we demonstrate that hazing activities have changed from being centered around homophobic same-sex…

Background: The behavioural determinants of health among people with mild/moderate intellectual disabilities (ID) are of increasing concern. With the closure of long-stay institutions, more people with ID are living in the community. As they lead more ordinary and less restricted lives, people with ID may be exposed to social and environmental…

Two studies investigated undergraduates' knowledge of the UK government recommendations about binge drinking and sensible drinking, and also examined how labelling oneself as a binge drinker is associated with binge drinking perceptions. In Study 1, 325 undergraduates reported how many units constitute binge drinking, and labelled themselves as a…

This article provides insights into the discourses that legitimate and perpetuate male undergraduate drinking cultures and considers the role of alcohol in communicating hegemonic masculinity within one British university. Taking laddishness as a template of hegemonic masculinity, the article contends that male students' heavy alcohol use is…