Lab 8 Allen - Perception of Alcohol
Lab 8 Allen - Perception of Alcohol
Lab 8 Allen - Perception of Alcohol
{Auna Allen}
Loras College
HOW PERCEPTION ALTERS ALCHOHOL
Abstract
and neutral would have an effect on our behavior. Specifically, we targeted adults ages
21+ to test whether or not different news articles would have an effect on how they
perceive alcohol. We had hypothesized that both positive and negative news would
influence behavior more than neutral news would. This self-report study had indicated
that many different things can drive our behaviors. Not only are these forces seen in our
environment, but they are also developed through time and experiences.
Alcohol use has been associated with disease, injury, and violence in populations
all over the globe. The world health organization has classified alcohol as one of the
leading risk factors for health as well as disability and premature death. Factors in the
environment such as the economy, culture, and availability of alcohol are relevant
Franklin, & Voaklander,2018). Significant consumption of alcohol causes more than 200
diseases and injuries in individuals. Alcohol dependence can cause liver cirrhosis, cancer,
and other injuries. Policies have been developed to reduce harmful usage of alcohol and
in recent years had shown some progress. Other intervention programs aim to reduce
the multiple harms related to drinking such as managed alcohol programs (MAP).
HOW PERCEPTION ALTERS ALCHOHOL
Adolescents contribute greatly towards alcohol use, which also poses a major
public health concern. Programs are found to reduce acute and social harms that are
associated with alcohol dependence (Pauly et al., 2018). This systematic review of
school-based alcohol and other drug prevention programs provides further evidence for
effectiveness in prevention programs (Agabio et al., 2018). The study had found 43%
positive results. They also found these interventions and school-based prevention
alcohol among adolescents. For the purpose of this study, we surveyed individuals from
ages 21+ years of age after being exposed to one of three news stories. One is positive,
two being negative, and three being neutral. We aimed to explore alcohol perceptions
and their association with harmful usage. This helped us understand if alcohol
individuals who were exposed to positive news stories will perceive alcohol as less
harmful. Those seeing negative news will perceive alcohol as harmful, and results for the
Method
There were three conditions in this study where each participant was exposed to
news stories that either described alcohol in 1) positive, 2) negative and 3) balanced.
Where we then measured the effect these news stories have on an individual’s
perception of alcohol. Each participant was asked to fill out a related questionnaire
involving questions such as “usage per week measured about the number of drinks they
HOW PERCEPTION ALTERS ALCHOHOL
consumed”. The results were then recorded and interpreted to better understand how
Participants
The participants in this study were both male and female. Ages ranged from 21
and up.
Materials
We adapted the survey instrument from three previous studies: the National
Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) study of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use; the Perkins and
Berkowitz study at Hobart and William Smith Colleges; and the studies of drinking
consequences conducted by Engs and Hanson. The positive news article was retrieved
from (Bachal, 2013), the negative news article was retrieved from (Ducharme 2018), and
the neutral article was retrieved from the Mayo Clinic staff.
Design
Procedure
perception of drinking and related behaviors and associated their perception with their
own behavior. In the first part of the questionnaire, participants filled out demographic
and alcohol history data. Then they read one of three news articles about alcohol before
Results
A one-way AVOVA test was run to determine if there was statistical significance
between group means. The test had indicated that there was no statistically significant
finding [F(2, 92) =0.162, p = 0.850] at the p-value =<.05. This indicates the between-
group means were not different suggesting that the news articles did not have an
increased danger of perception of alcohol effect between the three different levels. A t-
test was also run to determine perception across the control (neutral) and 1) positive, and
2.721, p =0.010. This suggests that there was a difference between the perception of these
two groups. This could indicate that positive (M= .96 SD= 0) had a greater effect than
neutral (M= 0.500, SD =0). A t-test between neutral and negative had also found a
statistically significant finding t(11) =-2.286, p =0.021. This suggests between groups
there are differences, indicated by the negative of the mean (M=0.897, SD= 0), and
neutral at (M =.5, SD= 0). Thus, suggesting that negative news has a greater impact on
Discussion
Based on the results of the tests we can see there is a difference between the
groups. This supports the hypothesis that we had predicted indicating that positive, and
negative news would have a greater effect on the perception of alcohol than neutral
news would. These types of research findings are extremely important in understanding
the underlying effects of the things we perceive and what they do to change and alter
our behaviors whether we know it or not. Thankfully, many models and intervention
strategies have been developed in recent years with hopes of tackling the widespread
HOW PERCEPTION ALTERS ALCHOHOL
misusage of alcohol. We not only see this here in the United States but as well as in
other countries. Not only is this affecting adults, but as well as adolescents. Therefore,
Limitations of this study included a small sample size. Other factors that could be
affecting the results are confounding variables such as religious views causing bias
towards alcohol. We can see these biases in religions when they do not accept alcohol
consumption at all. These types of confounds can heavily skew the data in a misleading
direction. More research needs to be conducted on how the things we perceive affect
our behaviors. Not only do social perceptions change how we view things, but they can
open doors to unhealthy lifestyles causing other health problems to arise. Thus, more
research and findings need to be published in order for more public attention on these
health crises. overall, this study provides us with research findings that suggest
References
Agabio, R., Trincas, G., Floris, F., Mura, G., Sancassiani, F., & Angermeyer, M. C.
Pauly, B. B., Vallance, K., Wettlaufer, A., Chow, C., Brown, R., Evans, J., Gray, E.,
Krysowaty, B., Ivsins, A., Schiff, R., & Stockwell, T. (2018). Community managed
Sanchez-Ramierez, D., Franklin, R., & Voaklander, D. (2018). Perceptions About Alcohol
Harm and Alcohol-control Strategies Among People With High Risk of Alcohol
World Health Organization Global status report on alcohol and health. 2014 [cited 2016
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/112736/1/9789240692763_eng.pdf.