Sociology Outcomes & Assessment

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS INFLUENCING ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

SOCIOLOGY1
Abstract
Alcohol consumption has become a major practice throughout the world in recent days.
However, it has been observed that there is a reduction in the prevalence of alcohol
consumption among the overall population of the world from the previous years. In the UK,
consumption has been noticeably increasing among the young adult generation. Various
factors have been spotted to have increased the effect of alcohol consumption among the
young generation in the United Kingdom. Out of all these factors, psychosocial factors are
one of the most significant factors affecting the increase in alcohol consumption among the
young generation in the UK. According to the five pieces of literature being reviewed,
psychosocial factors such as influences from friends, use of alcohol in media and the effect of
family history of alcohol in driving the young generation towards alcohol consumption.
Table of Content

SOCIOLOGY2
s
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................5
1.0 Introduction......................................................................................................................5
1.1 Operational definitions.....................................................................................................5
1.2 Background......................................................................................................................6
1.3 Problem statement............................................................................................................7
1.4 Justification......................................................................................................................8
1.5 Significance......................................................................................................................8
1.6 Summary..........................................................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Literature Review...................................................................................................10
2.0 Introduction....................................................................................................................10
2.1 Existing literature...........................................................................................................11
2.2 Literature gaps................................................................................................................12
2.3 Research purpose...........................................................................................................13
2.4 Theoretical framework...................................................................................................14
2.5 Conceptual framework...................................................................................................17
2.6 Summary........................................................................................................................19
Chapter 3: Research Methodology...........................................................................................19
3.0: Introduction...................................................................................................................19
3.1: Philosophical underpinning...........................................................................................20
3.2: Data collection methods................................................................................................21
3.3: Data sources..................................................................................................................22

SOCIOLOGY3
3.4: Search items..................................................................................................................22
3.5: Inclusion and Exclusion criteria....................................................................................23
3.6: Data analysis techniques...............................................................................................24
3.7: Summary of data...........................................................................................................24
3.8: Ethical issues.................................................................................................................27
3.9: Limitations....................................................................................................................27
3.10: Summary.....................................................................................................................28
Chapter 4: Results....................................................................................................................28
4.0: Introduction...................................................................................................................28
4.1: Summary.......................................................................................................................29
4.2: Results...........................................................................................................................34
4.3: Chapter summary..........................................................................................................34
Chapter 5: Discussion..............................................................................................................35
5.1: Introduction...................................................................................................................35
5.2: Discussion.....................................................................................................................36
5.3: Summary.......................................................................................................................37
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations.......................................................................38
6.0: Introduction...................................................................................................................38
6.1: Conclusions...................................................................................................................39
6.2: Recommendations.........................................................................................................39
6.3: Chapter summary..........................................................................................................40

SOCIOLOGY4
References................................................................................................................................41

SOCIOLOGY5
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Introduction
A simple explanation is not available for the fact that young individuals throughout the
world have been associated with alcohol consumption. In the year 2017, 20% of the total
population of the UK was found to be non-drinkers. The rest of the 80% population of the
UK has been exposed to alcohol usage and 9,214 deaths were found to be associated with
alcohol misuse (Järvinen and Room 2017). According to recent reports, "shunning alcohol"
has become the main drink among the young generation of the UK. For the increased
progression of mortality rate caused by deaths among the young generation of the UK, the
government has proposed some guidelines to control the situation (Critchlow et al. 2016).
Fourteen units of alcohol have been made the maximum amount of alcohol intake for the
people of the UK. Various factors have been identified which are the causes of high alcohol
consumption among the young generation of the UK. A significant research paper stated that
psychosocial factors are the most significant causes of alcohol consumption among the young
generation of the UK (Bräker and Soellner 2016). However, research studies also confirmed
that psychosocial factors along with some biological factors follow multiple pathways, which
involves alcohol consumption. Recent papers suggest that the cause of alcoholism has
emphasized the connections between the psychosocial and biological rather than each acting
singly. As an example, it can be stated that alcohol-related problems have a higher risk of
occurrence in the children of parents who are associated with alcoholism more than others
are. This paper will emphasize the impact of various psychosocial factors responsible to
influence alcohol consumption in the UK.

SOCIOLOGY6
1.1 Operational definitions
This section will state the terms used to search about the impact of psychosocial
factors on the alcohol consumption of young generation in the United Kingdom. These terms
will be searched for in both Google Scholar and www.google.com. The definition of the
terms will also be provided here to understand the reason for their use.
Alcohol: This is a chemical compound, which is the main component of beer and
spirits, which is responsible for the cause of intoxication.
Alcohol consumption: Moderate alcohol consumption has been defined as one drink
per day for women and men; this rate is two drinks per day.
Psychosocial factors: These are the things that are associated with the physical body
and affects the thinking procedures. Psychosocial factors have been observed to include the
changes in brain structures, which occur due to physical and mental stress. These factors also
include loneliness, social support, marriage status, bereavement, social disruption, work
environment, and social integration.
Psychological Factors: Media as in Television, advertisement, and Newspapers. The
attitude of alcohol consumers.
The Social Factors: families; friends; Social-media; environment born and raised; the
attitude of older adults and celebrities.
Young adults: An adult, who is young, can generally be stated to be in the range
from their late teens to an age. This age group ranges between sixteen and twenty-four (16 to
24).
Impact of psychosocial factors: The psychosocial factors are responsible for the
modification of the mental and physical state of the people associated with it.

SOCIOLOGY7
1.2 Background
Throughout the past, various experiments on alcohol consumption in the general population
of the UK have been done. However, researchers have faced challenges while explaining the
diverse behaviors related to alcohol consumption, which ranges from simple alcohol
experimentation to severe dependence on alcohol (Pennay, Livingston and MacLean 2015).
Various factors have been found to influence drinking which includes initial experimentation,
followed by a maintenance of drinking regularly, and finally deciding to stop drinking.
Researchers have also suggested that there are various subtypes of alcoholism having various
causes and manners of approach (etiology) (Aigner et al. 2017). Family history has also been
identified as a major psychosocial factor responsible to influence alcoholism among the
young generation. Reports have been found to be existing, where it is stated that there are
different ways by which children of people exposed to alcohol have been found to differ from
children whose family were unexposed to alcohol. The findings have also provided that
various psychosocial factors (psychopathology) including behavioral and mental disorders,
adverse family environments and responses that are psychological have been found to be
associated with the risk of alcohol consumption (Wartberg et al. 2016). However, there are
various other psychosocial factors that are associated with alcoholism among the young
generation of the UK. Many factors are still left to be discovered since research is still going
on this topic. The next section will discuss the problem statement of this research study.
1.3 Problem statement
The research problem associated with this study focusses on the impact of
psychosocial factors on alcohol consumption in the United Kingdom and UK young adults.
This statement goes as psychosocial factors put a great impact on young adults in the United
Kingdom. Various psychosocial factors such as family history, stress, workforce, relationship
issues and various other factors that include both physical and mental stress associated