Home > To curb student drinking, focus on social losses from heavy drinking and health gains from moderation.

Drug and Alcohol Findings. (2016) To curb student drinking, focus on social losses from heavy drinking and health gains from moderation. Drug and Alcohol Findings Research Analysis, (22 March 2016),

External website: http://findings.org.uk/PHP/dl.php?file=Kingsbury_J...

To moderate student drinking, tell them about the embarrassment and social losses they might suffer from heavy drinking, but when it comes to health, focus on the gains from not drinking heavily.

Key points from summary and commentary:
Alcohol vignettes featured a former student who went out with friends and experienced social or health consequences from drinking. The consequences were presented using either a gain frame (ie, positives of not drinking heavily) or loss frame (ie, negatives of drinking heavily). The social–gain frame vignette featured a student who was able to more easily converse with others, leading to a future date with an attractive member of the opposite sex. The student in the health–gain frame vignette talked about feeling good the day after going out, and the health benefits of moderate drinking (eg, lower risk of heart disease). The social–loss vignette featured a student who drank so much that he or she vomited in front of an attractive member of the opposite sex. The student in the health–loss vignette blacked out and was taken to the hospital for fear of alcohol poisoning


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