Cultural Perceptions of Alcohol Use in Children and Adolescents

Cultural Perceptions of Alcohol Use in Children and Adolescents

Miniaci Performing Arts Center

The proposed project investigates how people’s attitudes toward alcohol consumption vary across ethnic groups. Previous research has clearly shown that patterns of alcohol use are influenced by a group’s norms and attitudes regarding alcohol use. Groups with more liberal attitudes toward alcohol consumption are more likely to have frequent heavy drinkers than groups with more conservative norms and attitudes (Caetano & Clark, 1999). The current study investigates how a group’s norms toward alcohol use extend and apply to the use of alcohol in children and adolescents. We designed a 30-item questionnaire on various eating and drinking habits in adults, adolescents and children. We included some questions on the use of spicy food in various cultures since we did not want the participants to feel that the research was based on any ethnic stereotypes regarding the use of alcohol. The participants rated each question on a 5-point Likert-type scale. For instance, the participants rated a statement like “Children as young as age 12-16 can have one sip of beer with food, with adult supervision” on a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 meant that they completely disagreed with it and 5 meant that they completely agreed. So far we collected data from 120 participants from four different groups: Hispanic, Caucasian, African-American, Asian, and Caribbean. Approximately 30 more participants are needed. The data will be entered in the SPSS program and analyzed for statistical differences between the groups.