Kuidas rääkida teismelistele alkoholist? Kommunikatsioonisoovitused Tervise Arengu Instituudile
Date
2011
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
How to talk with teenagers about alcohol? Communication recommendations to the
National Institute for Health Development
Keywords: social marketing, teens, alcohol.
The present thesis sets an aim to discuss the question how to talk with teenagers about
alcohol, and gives recommendations to the National Institute for Health Development
(NIHD) on this issue.
Alcohol consumption in Estonian society is a very serious problem – in 2010 9.7 liters of
absolute alcohol per person was consumed; although this number has been falling during
the recent years (in 2009 it was 10.1 liters and in 2008 it was 12 liters) (Eesti
alkoholiturg… 2011), the problem has not yet been solved.
This problem emerges already during the teenage-years – 83.8% of 13-year-old boys in
Estonia have drunk alcohol at least once in their lifetime and among 13-year-old girls this
number is 78.8%. The number is even higher among the 15-year-olds - 93% have drunk
alcohol. (Eesti kooliõpilaste… 2007)
To make change happen it is rational to concentrate on a target group whose behavior is
easier to change and whose change will bring wider impact to the society. In this thesis
young people ages from 13 and older are the target group because their drinking motives
have not fully developed yet (Kuntsche et al 2005).
To make recommendations two research questions were shaped; these questions were
also divided into sub-questions. It was important to know on the one hand, what kind of
messages has NIHD used for influencing teenagers from 2007 up to the present; what
kind of campaigns have been carried out, and what aspects have been emphasized in the
communication. On the other hand, it was important to map the teenagers’ own opinions
and to see what kind of aspects about alcohol do they discuss, and what is their
knowledge about alcohol.
To answer these questions multi-party research was carried out. NIHD strategic
documents were analyzed and the results were linked with expert interviews carried out
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with the representatives of NIHD. Also forum posts made by teenagers were analyzed
and the teenagers’ knowledge, opinions and discussions were mapped. Both sides of this
research were combined together to form recommendations on how to talk with teenagers
about alcohol. It was also discussed what kind of messages should be used for 13-year
olds and older and what kind of channels are the most effective to use on the topic of
alcohol communication.
The results indicate that strategic documents do not concentrate on alcohol
communication towards teenagers. The exception is “Riiklik alkoholipoliitika” (The
National Alcohol Policy) (2009) that makes recommendations about price and sanctions
concerning alcohol and teenagers. The information about the harmful effects of alcohol
and responsible drinking habits are also mentioned in the policy.
Qualitative content analysis of the forum posts shows that different discussions have been
initiated in order to ask for advice and exchange experiences. Teenagers’ alcohol
consumption is regulated by the (cultural) norms of the adults, where teenagers try to
differ from the adults and the “larger” society as much as possible. But also the different
role-models that teenagers like to follow are part of the “larger” society. In the youth
culture it is characteristic to identify themselves with peers. The social pressure and
subjection to it is also one of the characteristics of the youth culture. Alcohol
consumption is also strongly related to the school culture, especially to the graduation of
the 9th grade. This is the time that teenagers achieve the “right” age for drinking (about
15-16 years).
Teenagers also perceive the different risks related to alcohol consumption and
communicated by NIHD and the society in general. The risks and hazards are related to
the physical effects (death by drinking, the effects of alcohol and medicine together) and
the social effects (getting caught by the police or the parents, the humiliation in front of
the peers). Teenagers seek different opportunities to minimize these risks and hazards. It
is interesting to observe that teenagers plan rationally the forthcoming alcohol
consumptions (especially when it is their first time). They plan the amount of the alcohol
to be obtained and also the amount to be consumed Different strategies for minimizing
the hazards show that not consuming at all is not an option for them.
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The knowledge that teenagers need concerning the topic of alcohol, but what NIHD has
not covered yet, is about the social drinking culture, minimizing the hazards and the other
elements connected to the school culture.
For example there are different aspects about adult drinking habits mentioned on the
alkoinfo.ee webpage, but more detailed explanations about the hidden sides of the
drinking habits in the society should be given out for the teenagers to know.
The NIHD emphasizes the different hazards that can occur for the teenagers; the forum
posts show, however, that teenagers minimize these hazards, although not drinking is not
one of their strategies.
The elements concerning the school culture should also be communicated because forum
posts showed that there is a strong link between the school culture (especially graduating
the 9th grade) and drinking alcohol.
To sum up the main recommendations on how and through which channels to talk to the
teenagers about alcohol are: to group teenagers in addition to age also according to
lifestyle; to address social drinking motives and benefits of alcohol; to compose separate
messages for boys and for girls; to place a brand in the centre of the campaign to avoid
using the patronizing approach; to tell the truth to the teenagers about their peers opinions
and attitudes concerning alcohol; to use edutainment to communicate with the teenagers;
to use the internet as the main channel and the parents as the additional channel when
talking about alcohol.