Young People and Alcohol: The Role of Cultural Influences

The report forms the first stage in a larger, two-stage project examining cultural factors that influence the drinking behaviours of young Australians. The full project research plan comprises two stages, each involving different, but complementary, approaches as described below.

Stage One: A literature review involving a comprehensive search of relevant literature to determine the scope, type and quality of studies (quantitative and/or qualitative) that have addressed the topic. An examination of existing relevant reports and secondary analysis of available datasets provides a synthesis of the most currently available data related to the project aims.

Stage Two: A research phase involving a close examination of the key issues that emerge from the literature review, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques, where appropriate.

This report presents the findings from Stage One and is structured in two parts:

Part One provides the contextual details and background to this literature review, and flags a number of key issues pertaining to alcohol and young people in general. It also includes detail on the demographic and epidemiological profile of young drinkers in Australia (see Chapter 5)

Part Two is presented in 6 chapters (Chapters 6 through 11) and addresses the following issues: