Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/26987
Appears in Collections:Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Staying in the 'sweet spot': A resilience-based analysis of the lived experience of low-risk drinking and abstention among British youth
Author(s): Graber, Rebecca
de Visser, Richard
Abraham, Charles
Memon, Anjum
Hart, Angie
Hunt, Kate
Keywords: alcohol
adolescence
resilience
protective mechanisms
peer relationships
Issue Date: 2016
Date Deposited: 12-Apr-2018
Citation: Graber R, de Visser R, Abraham C, Memon A, Hart A & Hunt K (2016) Staying in the 'sweet spot': A resilience-based analysis of the lived experience of low-risk drinking and abstention among British youth. Psychology and Health, 31 (1), pp. 79-99. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2015.1070852
Abstract: Objective:  The aim of this study was to understand how and why young people drink less or not at all when with their peers. Understanding the subjective experiences of moderate or non-drinkers may help identify protective processes facilitating resilience to cultural norm and influences that encourage excessive alcohol consumption among young people.  Design:  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 moderate- or non-drinkers aged 17–25 years (13 young women) living in South East England. Interviews explored recent experiences of social situations and encounters that did or did not involve alcohol. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.  Results:  Analysis identified six conceptually coherent themes clustering within a superordinate theme of a healthy experience of moderate alcohol use or abstention: ‘the sweet spot’. These themes were: feeling good in the body, feeling like you can be who you are, feeling like you belong, making a free choice, enjoying the moment, and feeling safe and secure.  Conclusions:  This resilience-based analysis showed how non-drinking and moderate-drinking may be experienced as a positive and proactive choice. Understanding the subjective experiences of young people may aid development of specific, realistic interventions to promote moderate drinking and abstention among young people in drinking cultures.
DOI Link: 10.1080/08870446.2015.1070852
Rights: © 2015 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Graber-etal-PsychHealth-2016.pdfFulltext - Published Version562.42 kBAdobe PDFView/Open



This item is protected by original copyright



A file in this item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons

Items in the Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

The metadata of the records in the Repository are available under the CC0 public domain dedication: No Rights Reserved https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

If you believe that any material held in STORRE infringes copyright, please contact library@stir.ac.uk providing details and we will remove the Work from public display in STORRE and investigate your claim.