Educating Teenagers About The Dangers of Alcohol Abuse

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Public health messages promoting the detrimental effects of drinking are only one avenue policy makers can use in their campaign to educate teenagers about alcohol; their peers are also an another important group. For this study, the researchers examine teenage alcohol use and strategies that they employ to minimize harm. This approach draws on the idea that teenagers are their own agents in promoting their health, and the health of their peers (Jorgensen, Curtis, Christensen, & Gronbaek, 2007).

This study took place in a rural Danish community with a population of approximately 2000 people. Participants observed were students 13 to 16 year olds who were contacted through their schools. Informants were also used in this study (a different group; 15-16 year olds) and they consisted of 13 boys and 19 girls. They were all Caucasian (Danish) with the exception of one Middle Eastern boy. In terms of social status, the studied group were a fairly homogenous group from middle-class families (Jorgensen, Curtis, Christensen, & Gronbaek, 2007).

Although not stated in the article, the paradigm of inquiry for this study is constructivism. This is because realities are co-constructed by the participants studied, and this study is subjective and interactive.

The methodology of this study is ethnography of teenagers, and the strategies they employ for harm minimization from alcohol use (Jorgensen, Curtis, Christensen, & Gronbaek, 2007).

This study involved two periods of ethnographic fieldwork. In the first period of fieldwork the researcher observed students (13-16 year old; n=93) contacted from a local school for 50 days. There was a moderate level of participation as the researcher’s observation was carried out at the school, get-togeth...

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...ir lives need to be explored, and these other significant persons in lives of women may prove invaluable.

Bibliography

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Jorgensen, M. H., Curtis, T., Christensen, P. H., & Gronbaek, M. (2007). Harm minimization among teenage drinkers: findings from an ethnographic study on teenage alcohol use in a

rural Danish community. Addiction , 102, 554-559.

Roberts, S., Graham, M., & Barter-Godfrey, S. (2011). Young mothers' lived experiences prior to becoming pregnant in rural Victoria: A phenomenological study. Australian Journal of Rural Health , 19, 312-317.

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