TY - JOUR

T1 - Go hard or go home

T2 - a social practice theory approach to young people’s ‘risky’ alcohol consumption practices

AU - Hennell, Kath

AU - Piacentini, Maria

AU - Limmer, Mark

N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Critical Public Health on 11/11/2019, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09581596.2019.1686460

PY - 2021/1/1

Y1 - 2021/1/1

N2 - Developing a deep and contextualised understanding of risk is important for public health responses to young people’s alcohol consumption, which is frequently positioned as an outcome of risky behaviour. This paper expands conceptualisations of risk to encompass its wider social and cultural context through a social practice exploration of young people’s controlled and managed intoxicated alcohol consumption practice. We report data from a fourteen-month qualitative study of the alcohol consumption practices of 23 young people in England, drawing on group interviews and social media interactions. Our findings provide a nuanced understanding of risk-taking, demonstrating that risk is an important aspect of the ongoing participation and performance in alcohol consumption practice and that health information and advice can be and was frequently incorporated into drinking practice without contributing to fundamental change. This raises new questions about the effectiveness of health interventions that focus on the individual, discussed in the final section of the paper.

AB - Developing a deep and contextualised understanding of risk is important for public health responses to young people’s alcohol consumption, which is frequently positioned as an outcome of risky behaviour. This paper expands conceptualisations of risk to encompass its wider social and cultural context through a social practice exploration of young people’s controlled and managed intoxicated alcohol consumption practice. We report data from a fourteen-month qualitative study of the alcohol consumption practices of 23 young people in England, drawing on group interviews and social media interactions. Our findings provide a nuanced understanding of risk-taking, demonstrating that risk is an important aspect of the ongoing participation and performance in alcohol consumption practice and that health information and advice can be and was frequently incorporated into drinking practice without contributing to fundamental change. This raises new questions about the effectiveness of health interventions that focus on the individual, discussed in the final section of the paper.

KW - Alcohol consumption

KW - risk

KW - practice theory

U2 - 10.1080/09581596.2019.1686460

DO - 10.1080/09581596.2019.1686460

M3 - Journal article

VL - 31

SP - 66

EP - 76

JO - Critical Public Health

JF - Critical Public Health

SN - 0958-1596

IS - 1

ER -