RESEARCH REPORT: ATTITUDES AND CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL

Concerns - Frequency per week - Preferred products

Student: Truong Quang Khanh - ID: 517526

Teacher: Henny Chandra & Kari Qasem

Due day: 18th August 2021

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................1
METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................................2
RESULTS...................................................................................................................................................3
DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................................................5
Reference.....................................................................................................................................................6

1
INTRODUCTION

Alcohol is a kind of beverage that is widely consumed around the world on many
occasions such as festivals, parties, and special events. There is no denying that the alcohol
industry brings many economic benefits (IAS, 2017). Moreover, drinking alcohol with an
appropriate amount also helps people to be healthier and reduce their stress (Staff, 2019).
However, there is always a negative aspect to alcohol drinking habits. Alcohol overuse results in
many harmful effects on physical and mental health, the increase of social evils, and other public
problems (Commonwealth of Australia, n.d.). Because of its great impact on many aspects of
life, studies on attitudes and consumption of alcohol have received much attention.

In Australia, alcohol drinking is an alarming issue. In the 2019 annual alcohol survey, the
Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) concluded that 47% of respondents
admitted that they would binge drink, a 12% increase compared with 2011. In particular, Dr.
Erin Lalor, Executive Director of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, highlighted young people in
Australia are vulnerable to alcohol (Community Affairs References Committee, 2021).
According to a study by Callinan et al., (2021), during the social distancing period due to Covid-
19, alcohol consumption among young Australians witnessed a slight decrease, particularly
young women. However, after easing restrictions, the country recorded 27% of young people
aged 18-24 drink more alcohol than before the pandemic.

Contributing to research on alcohol issues in Australia, this report will discuss research
findings on differences in alcohol consumption and attitudes between male and female overseas
students in this country in three aspects: alcohol-related concerns, frequency, and preferred
alcohol products. The result implies that first, female students are more concerned with the
consequences of alcohol than male students except for health issues; second, men and women
show different preferences about kinds of alcohol; third, men consume alcohol more frequently
than women with main participants have it three days per week. From these results, Australian
universities and authorities can take appropriate measures to reduce alcohol consumption in this
group.

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METHODOLOGY
The study used the primary data collection method through the online questionnaire.
These are new data collected for the first time by the research team for this study. The
questionnaire is designed with 20 questions on different aspects of attitudes and consumption of
alcohol overseas students in Australia. The convenience non-probability sampling method is
selected to aim at people who are easily accessible. To reach an estimated sample size of 50
participants, the research team sent 60 emails to the study subjects. However, we only collected
40 satisfactory responses, which can be used for analysis, of which 22 are male and 18 are
female, accounting for 55% and 45% respectively.

RESULTS

Graph 1. Concerns related to alcohol

100%
90%
80%
72%
68% 66%
70%
60%
60% 54% 52% 50%
Students

48%
50% 44%
40% 40%
40% 36% 34% 36%
32%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Road accidents Violence Child abuse Health problem Crime
Male Female Total
Problems

The research results are shown in three graphs as below.

From the first graph, it can be seen that there are five concerns related to the
consequences of alcohol drinking: Road accidents, Violence, Child abuse, Health problems, and
Crime. Among them, Health problems and Traffic accidents are the two issues that receive the
most attention from all survey participants with 66% and 54%. However, the consequences of
alcohol affecting Child abuse received the lowest rate of attention of these people (34%).
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Comparing the group of male and female students, we can imply that both gender groups are the
same when least concerned about Child abuse. However, there are some different trends. First of
all, Health is the most concerning issue among men (72%), while Road accidents receive the
most attention from women (68%). Moreover, in all matters, women show more notice than men.
The issue of Traffic accidents is concerned by 68% of women, 28% more than men. This feature
is also reflected in Violence, Child abuse, and Crime, but with a lower difference of about 4-8%.
However, men show a higher level of concern than women in terms of health with a discrepancy
of 12%.

Graph 2 below presents the difference in alcohol product preferences between males and
females. Surveyed alcohol products are Spirits, Bottled wine, Regular strength beer, Cider, Mid
strength beer, and Light beer. It can be demonstrated that Regular strength beer is the most
favorited alcohol product with 9/40 total participants choose it. Among them, 28% of females
and 18% of males prefer this type to the others. The preference of male and female students is
similar when they both fairly like Bottled wine and Regular strength beer but it is also different
in each group. While more than one-fourth of the males prefer spirits (27%), the same percentage
of females (27%) prefer Light beer. No women are recorded to be in favor of Spirits and no men
like Light beer.

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 Graph 2: Alcohol product preferences
10
9
9
8
8
7
6 6
6
5 5 5 5
5
4 4 4 4 4
People

4
3 3
3
2 2
2
1
1
0 0 0
0
Spirits Bottled wine Regular Cider Mid strength Light beer None of the
strength beer beer above

Alcohol product

Male Female Total

In the third graph, the frequency of alcohol consumption per week of male and female
overseas students in Australian universities will be illustrated. The common frequencies
surveyed by the study are Two days or less per week and Three days or more per week. Males
dominate females in the frequency of alcohol consumption as 13/22 male students drink three
days or more per week (equivalent to 59%). There are about 33% of women drink alcohol with
that frequency level. The graph also highlights that two-third of the females (12/18) and nearly a
half of males (41%) tend to consume alcohol two days or less per week.

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 Graph 3: Frequency of alcohol consumption per week
25
21
20 19

15 13
12
People

10 9
6
5

0
Two days or less per week Three days or more per week

Per week

Male Female Total

DISCUSSION

From the above statistics, the first finding is that females often pay more attention to
alcohol consequences than males with hot social issues such as Road accidents, Violence, Health
problem, Child abuse, and Crime. This conclusion is understandable because whomever these
problems happen to, women will often suffer more seriously. For example, when men drink and
become more violent, women or children who are weak will be directly affected by such
violence. Or, alcohol increases traffic accidents and social crimes, women will also be affected.
They even have to care for injured men that results in economic and emotional pressure. Social
crimes such as robbery and rape will also occur more frequently with women, who are less able
to protect themselves than men.

The second conclusion is in terms of differences in alcohol preference between the two
genders. Male students are more likely to prefer beverages with higher alcohol content than
female students. The reason is that women are more sensitive to alcohol levels than men. In
women's bodies, there is a lack of weakly active alcohol hydrogenase - an enzyme that helps
neutralize alcohol levels (Franzen, 2001). When drinking the same amount of alcohol, women
are more likely to feel drunk and it causes more harm to their health. Therefore, light wines will
be more suitable for women's physical condition. Men, on the other hand, have more alcohol

6
hydrogenase in their bodies which makes them more likely to drink heavier alcohol. In addition,
heavy drinking is also a way for men to express themselves and demonstrate their strength to
others (Elsevier, 2010).

Another finding is the frequency of alcohol drinking habits, men drink more frequently
than women when the majority have alcohol three times per week. There are three main reasons
for drinking more alcohol in men: social motivation, group integration, and personal problem-
solving. First, men want to show their social status through their ability to drink alcohol on
special occasions (Elsevier, 2010). Many people think that a man who can drink alcohol is
considered more mature and attractive. Second, drinking alcohol helps men easily integrate into
a new group or community when they feel to get closer and be more similar to other people at a
party or event (Elsevier, 2010). Third, drinking alcohol makes men feel more stimulated, excited,
and happy in life. While women often share personal problems with others to find the solution,
men tend to deal with stress and difficulties by themselves (Elsevier, 2010).

Thanks to these findings, some recommendations for Australian universities can be

considered. The first measure is to raise awareness about the harmful effects of alcohol in terms
of health, traffic accidents, violence, child abuse, and crime, especially for male students through
methods such as classroom education, photos, and videos, alcohol awareness events, and
contests. The next measure is to have strict regulations on the use of alcohol in schools and
disciplinary forms to limit alcohol use. The final measure is to encourage students to participate
in activities that benefit the community so that students can understand their self-worth is the
level of contribution to the community, not the ability to drink alcohol.

In conclusion, the report summarized the survey results on concerns, preferences, and
frequency of alcohol drinking in the overseas students' group. However, there are still many
limitations in this study when it has a relatively small sample size. Furthermore, the research just
focuses on gender differences in attitudes and consumption of alcohol. Differences can also
appear in terms of age, geographical area, education level. This limitation will also be a
foundation for future studies on this topic.

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REFERENCE
Callinan, S., Smit, K., Mojica‐Perez, Y., D’Aquino, S., Moore, D., & Kuntsche, E.
(2020). Shifts in alcohol consumption during the COVID‐19 pandemic: early indications from
Australia. Society for the Study of Addiction.
Commonwealth of Australia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.au/health-
topics/alcohol/about-alcohol/what-are-the-effects-of-alcohol
Community Affairs References Committee. (2021). Effective approaches to prevention,
diagnosis, and support for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Canberra: Commonwealth of
Australia.
Elsevier. (2010). Why are men more susceptible to alcoholism? It may be in their
dopamine. ScienceDaily.
FARE. (2019). Annual Alcohol Poll 2019: Attitudes and Behaviours. FARE.
Franzen, H. (2001, April 16). Health. Retrieved from Scientificamerican.com:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/enzyme-lack-lowers-womens/
IAS. (2017). Splitting the bill: Alcohol’s impact on the economy. Institute of Alcohol
Studies.
Staff, M. C. (2019, October 26). Healthy Lifestyle. Retrieved from
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/alcohol/art-
20044551