ASC102 Essay: Alcohol Consumption Among University Students

This essay delves into the sociological aspects of alcohol consumption among university students, particularly in Australia, where the drinking culture is prevalent. It examines how universities are attempting to minimize harm through policy and management strategies, focusing on risk management and student development. The study highlights the influence of social forces on student drinking habits and the challenges faced by institutions in addressing these issues. The essay explores the roles of institutional regulation, risk management, and the promotion of responsible drinking practices. It also discusses barriers and opportunities for minimizing harm, emphasizing the need for education and social awareness to protect students' well-being. The research draws on various studies and sociological approaches to understand the complexities of alcohol consumption within the university environment, including cultural and interactional factors.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY 0
[Alcohol Consumption among University Students]
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SOCIOLOGY 1
Influence of alcohol consumption on university students
In recent times, the culture of drinking is increasing in young age people especially university
students for consuming alcohol in countries like Australia, the US, and the UK. The drinking
culture mentions respect for alcohol issues related to harmful aspects. The focus of this issue
of students’ alcohol use and the growing of drinking principles is on the role of university
policy and management for minimizing harm in the growing body. The sociological
influences to understand the drinking cultures of youth where the students aim to drink for
getting drunk are the main focus of Australian colleges or universities. They draw
sociological approaches to institutions for proposing policy and management linked to the
drinking of students not to operate easily at governing impacts. A speculative tactic for
interpreting a drinking culture to combine with social practices in which institutional
changing aspects linked to alcohol policy and management specifically which plays an active
and essential role. The approach has some consequences as well regarding policy and
involvements to report substantial and regular drinking amongst grown-ups and to minimize
harm in universities (Davoren, et al., 2016). In this essay, the discussion is covering
university students for consuming heavy use of drinking alcohol where the concern of the
universities is to minimize the harm on students’ health and safety.
In Australian universities, students are at some particular risk because of alcohol-related
issues widely known after investigating. It is increasing not within the premises but also
outside the universities. The universities approached for measuring the alcohol consumption
of students and their conduct individually and collectively and from a cultural context, the
perspective of conceptualization according to their practices, attitudes, identities and social
networks for alcohol consumption other than social forces (Kinner, et al., 2015). It has been
noticed that cultural and interactional factors are involved in influencing. It is essential to
establish an approach to explore the heavy drinking of grown-ups. The forces are analyzed by

SOCIOLOGY 2
wide look at dimensions other than social forces where the grown-ups heavy drinking is
considered within economies and neo-liberalism culture and the practice of compromising
directly arising from dark economy reformation with the alcohol occupation and industry of
drinking nearby grown-ups people with strong consumption of alcohol (Leontini, et al.,
2017).
The investigation is done on students’ excessive alcohol consumption in universities as a
culture of alcoholism implanted within processes of policy and management related to
students in the institutions. It develops the sociological study of students consuming heavy,
abundant, and regularized drinking in routines of college life from private socializing to
formal events in universities (De Goeij, et al., 2015). In today’s society, mental and alcohol-
related harm leads the issues where drinking plays an important role for Australians in their
social life. It is risky to drink alcohol which is linked for long-term including young grown-
ups university students. The environment, development and lifestyle changes affect the
students consuming alcohol which influences them physically and psychologically (Tembo,
et al., 2017).
The topic focuses on the process of policy and management in institutions, and the role
played by students of the universities in drinking culture. Australian universities designed
policies and programs to diminish alcohol consumption of students, and it was hard to look
for minimizing the harm because of drinking regulations to the students. It is dependent on
the working of institutions on this issue by understanding and theorization the process of
policies and administration (Supski, et al., 2017). The aim is to address the process of policy
and management institutions play a role in the making of drinking principles in universities
and the harm minimization operations with understanding consumption of grown-ups
drinking.

SOCIOLOGY 3
The sociological perspective focuses on problem-solving in modifying and reshaping
conducts in rational choices accordingly. The process helps in maintaining acceptability and
reducing improbability identification for fulfilling purposes of minimizing costs and
production resourcefully. The approach helps in conveying the ideas through a cooperative
process by understanding the policy forming a perspective. It is important to understand and
address the concerns to access the problems by analysing and identifying in the universities.
The analysing of policy and management helps in determining the value in addressing the use
of alcohol by students involving practices in universities (Fisher, et al., 2007).
Nowadays, in high-income countries like Australia, alcohol regulation is the practice of risk
management that leads; adopting this approach is broadly noticed across other countries and
sectors as well. The risk management objectifies minimizing harm with the relation to using
alcohol by approaching towards applying punishment tactics and inducing in the universities
(Fernandez-Sola, 2015). It is important to address the opportunities and barriers in
minimizing the harm of students consuming alcohol in Australian universities. In Australia,
the universities need to investigate the management and policy to understand, represent, and
respond to alcohol use of students. In Australian universities, the ethics allowance was
established by the Human Research Ethics Committee for managing and executing alcohol
policy to minimize harm (Indig, et al., 2016). It involves composing and identification of
policy to identify management individuals in the universities including alcohol consumption
policy.
The policy discourse is the statements of policy measures, objectives and principles to
achieve the key objectives. The university alcohol policies were detailed and complex framed
for students including alcohol providers to state its objectives and purpose. The heavy
consumption of alcohol in students is due to social forces or community discourses related to
alcohol parameters and harm reduction of using alcohol (Livingston, et al., 2016). In

SOCIOLOGY 4
Australia, legal authorities also promote to drink responsibly as the objective of their alcohol
policy being primary. The social and collective drinking practices of students where
universities start to minimize harm after the consumption of heavy alcohol drinking with
safety and moderating concerns as a goal by promoting and supporting. Risk management is
a rational strategy to minimize harm by regulating social processes with detailed
requirements for operations.
The management emerges in interviews by framing the issue of irresponsibility, managing
risks, and students’ harmful drinking regulation and fostering them by development and
independency. The behaviour of students is their irresponsible attitudes and conduct because
of socializing occasionally, at large events, or informal gatherings result in responsible
drinking. It was normal for the students to drink frequently and normally where the students
were mainly of small sections (Horyniak, et al., 2016). The main focus was on the policies
linked with the issues conduct of students’ heavy drinking. The problem of drinking
influenced corruption which was beyond the control and outside of management control
including activities involving alcohol and the anti-social measurements of students. The
problem for management was students’ interaction with external factors other than
universities which leads to their harms and concerns. It is the duty of management to take
care of students’ well-being and health because of consuming alcohol and challenges harms
recommends for protecting the correctness of institutions by providing education and social
awareness through a stable and safe environment (Ogeil, et al., 2016). The management
thought of executing some strategies for minimizing the risks which are harmful by making
regulatory structure for alcohol use. The institutions adopted the policy in universities for the
requirement of reducing risks with risk assessment details and written and formal permission
request for organizing events.

SOCIOLOGY 5
The strategies were made to aim at shaping students’ understanding and attitude around the
consumption of alcohol approaches from education to corrective action. The approach
adoption of risk management, rational fundamentals, and purpose regulations, and institutions
issues of representation made by students’ for irresponsible and irrational drinking behaviour
with threats of stability and safety in universities and responses were made to minimize harm
with rules and procedures. Development by fostering students by providing meals and
accommodations in universities and securing their educational, social, and resourceful
acceptability for supporting them as per their expectations were part of the policy. The
universities aimed at social events for students’ development and for an approach to
minimize students’ drinking issues. There are many aspects related to this issue due to social
forces but the process of policy and management of universities helps in minimizing harm
through risk management and students’ development (Callinan, et al., 2016). Therefore, it is
the responsibility of management to secure students from drinking cultures and reducing
harms of heavy use of alcohol for achieving the goals.
To conclude, the barriers and opportunities for minimizing harm among students of
Australian universities focused on policy and management to understand, represent, and
address students’ alcohol consumption. The heavy consumption of alcohol was used by
students’ in universities widely influenced by social forces. It was important to educate and
aware them implications within and outside the premises. There are conflicts in the role of
making drinking principles with inadequate opportunities for minimizing harm to students’
engaging in such activities but are important to be solved.
References

SOCIOLOGY 6
Callinan, S., Livingston, M., Room, R. & Dietze, P., 2016. "Drinking contexts and alcohol
consumption: how much alcohol is consumed in different Australian locations?.". Journal of
studies on alcohol and drugs, 77(4), pp. 612-619.
Davoren, M. P., Cronin, M., Perry, I. J. & O'Connor, K., 2016. Alcohol consumption among
university students: a typology of consumption to aid the tailoring of effective public health
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De Goeij, M. C. et al., 2015. How economic crises affect alcohol consumption and alcohol-
related health problems: a realist systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, Volume 131,
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Fernandez-Sola, J., 2015. Cardiovascular risks and benefits of moderate and heavy alcohol
consumption. Reviews Cardiology, 12(10), p. 576.
Fisher, C. B., Fried, A. L. & Anushko, A., 2007. Development and Validation of the College
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Horyniak, D. et al., 2016. Heavy alcohol consumption among marginalised African refugee
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related problems and strategies for managing drinking. Ethnicity & health, 21(3), pp. 284-
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Indig, D., Frewen, A. & Moore, E., 2016. Predictors and correlates of re-incarceration among
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Kinner, S. A. et al., 2015. Substance use and risk of death in young offenders: a prospective
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Leontini, R., Schofield, T., Brown, R. & Hepworth, J., 2017. ‘‘Drinking Cultures’’ in
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Ogeil, R. P. et al., 2016. Temporal changes in alcohol‐related mortality and morbidity in
Australia. Addiction, 111(4), pp. 626-634.

SOCIOLOGY 7
Supski, S., Lindsay, J. & Tanner, C., 2017. University students’ drinking as a social practice
and the challenge for public health. Critical Public Health, 27(2), pp. 228-237.
Tembo, C., Burns, S. & Kalembo, F., 2017. The association between levels of alcohol
consumption and mental health problems and academic performance among young university
students. PLOS ONE, 12(6), p. e0178142.