I have always been involved with the alcohol industry, but don’t jump to conclusions. My dad owned one of the biggest bars in Boone County from about 2000 to 2010. It was a fancier bar that people would reserve for wedding receptions or other events. My parents were also divorced, and spending the weekend with my dad while he was running a bar, was often spent at the bar. As you can imagine, as people would get more and more intoxicated, I began getting curious as to why people were acting so peculiar simply from consuming a drink. Even today, I am not enthusiastic about sciences like chemistry, but this is one science I have been pondering.
For college students, there is almost an expectation to consume alcohol, regardless of if one is of the legal age. Speaking publicly about alcohol consumption is always an awkward situation. I’m constantly worried about being scolded about speaking about my experiences with alcohol. I’ve wondered why there is such a stigma associated with alcohol consumption in college. Another thing I’ve wondered is how are students, around the age of 16, are magically fully aware of alcohol. Are the younger generations being targeted by the advertisement companies? I want to know the scientific aspect behind alcohol’s responsibility on the alteration of the body, why is there a stigma and an expectation to consume it in college, and are the younger generations actually being targeted.
I personally have been to “social gatherings” and have been at both ends of the stick when it comes to alcohol consumption. I have been the one who’s maybe had one-to-many drinks, but I have also been the one who consumes nothing and makes sure that everyone makes it out of the party safely. I know how alcohol affects me, I’ve watched how it affects others, but I’ve never understood why it does what it does. It mystifies me that consuming a drink labeled as an “adult beverage” possess the abilities to alter your mental state and your behavior. I do know that different types of alcohol have different effects and their side effects come at different speeds. Liquor tends to be the most potent of the alcohols as it is often what is associated with being “sloppy” drunk. Beer takes longer/more to have the same effects, or get close to the same effects as liquor does. Many people will argue that wine is a completely different kind of drunk and that it isn’t as severe as the other two. Is there actually a difference between the “drunks”? I did some research to find out the scientific aspects of alcohol and its effects on the bodies of the consumers.
Brain activity scans are often used to visually see how different variables affect the brain. It has been noted that those under the influence of alcohol have had their neuronal circuits that respond to threats altered. This explains why many people tend to be fearless whilst drinking. It was also noted that the emotion-processing regions of the brain are being affected and this is where some people’s “drunk identity” comes into play (shape). Having one’s emotions messed with creates an identity associated with their drinking habits. Whether it be sloppy, lovey, emotional, aggressive, etc., many factors play a role in this identity. The drinking environment, the consumer’s experience, genetics, and gender are just a few factors that play a role in the identity of the drunk.
To learn about the science part of alcohol, I used the site howstuffworks.com. More specifically, I found an article written by Laurie Dove, titled “How Does Alcohol Make You Drunk?” Laurie establishes her ethos and credibility by her choice of sources. There are health institutions, universities, and an article published in The Wall Street Journal. There is a link you can click on that tells you about the author. This is where Dove also establishes her credibility as it says she has written articles for the website, is the author of six books and spends her spare time researching historical, health, and other topics. Dove targets the audiences of those like me, intrigued about learning the science behind alcohol. Her purpose was to break down the components in alcohol and effectively explain the effects it has on the body in an easy-to-understand manner. I read a few other articles before finding this one, and they just simply didn’t seem to have the credibility and knowledge that How Stuff Works did.
I learned from this source that when it comes to learning the science behind intoxication, it is solely the ethanol in the alcohol that is the culprit of the behavior modification. Once consumed, alcohol is able to travel throughout your body freely, having a particular liking of the brain. Many know that alcohol is a depressant and “while in the brain, ethanol wanders around, causes feel-good dopamine to be released and links up with nerve receptors” (HowStuffWorks). Ethanol later attaches itself to a neurotransmitter which doesn’t allow the transmitter to be active and this is why the brain becomes slower at responding to stimuli occurring in the individual’s surroundings. The severity of these reactions to alcohol is dependent on many factors such as age, weight, gender, water consumption, and what’s been eaten prior to the consumption of alcohol. After everything is said and done, the alcohol is eventually processed in the liver and can be excreted via urine, breathing, or sweating. This source taught me almost everything there is to learn about the science behind alcohol. I found it very useful in my research and it answered all my inquiries.
To learn about the advertising behind alcohol, I used a few articles from Google Scholar. The two I chose to study were one from Live Science, written by Jeanette Mulvey, and the other was from Wiley Online Library, written by Phyllis Ellickson. Google Scholar is a great source for scholarly articles that have been read by many and posted by a credible institution. Each were forms of longitudinal studies which establishes logos by providing the facts and data. The audience is those inquiring about the effects of advertisement of alcohol on the younger generations, and the purpose was to provide some sort of statistical fact that either proves or disproves the question at hand.
I learned from each article that according to each longitudinal assessment, that those exposed to alcohol ads at a young age were more likely to engage in underage drinking. A progression model of the relationship between ad predictors and an intervention program that was done on 41 middle schools in North Dakota found that “those exposed to the different types of ads, TV, in-store displays, magazines, and concessions, that all of the ads except for TV were predictors of early drinking by grade nine” (LiveScience). The article also went on to mention that social media is supposed to have an age gate on their advertisements that would prohibit anyone under the legal age from viewing the advertisements. It had been discovered that the age gate was ineffective due to minors disguising their actual age and lack of effort. Alcohol, beer, in particular, is almost always advertised at a sporting event. These events are attended by families, often those with young children. Most sports teams are also sponsored by an alcoholic beverage. This almost gives the idea that “in order to be an all-star athlete, you have to consume beer,” which also could be a reason for someone to start drinking at a younger age. These sources were rather effective in getting the point across that alcohol companies are indeed targeting younger viewers. One thing that would have made the sources more helpful in my opinion, would provide graphs with the data, as photos tend to be very useful in displaying data. I would maybe consider researching more into the morals behind the advertising companies and maybe looking up interviewers with advertisers of the companies. This would give a better insight as to whether or not it is intentional advertising or not.
My final sources were to help me find out about the stigma associated with college students and their drinking habits that seem to be expected of them. I asked my dad about his experience with college kids, as he was the owner of a bar for a while. He established his ethos in this way and established his credibility for having the first-hand experience in the field. During our interview, I was the primary audience, but the secondary would be my classmates, as he knew it was for a presentation. I also used an article from the Huffington Post, “…The #1 Reason Your Kids Binge-Drink at College,” was written by Ann Brenoff. She established her logos by including many statistical figures in her findings. She appeals to parents who may be inquiring about the college lifestyle. Her audience would be parents of students and the students themselves that attend a university or community college. I chose this article because it wandered off the beaten path of blaming the students, and actually taking a look at the parents.
“Bars in college towns are obviously directed towards college kids, and underage drinking is easier to get away with. Being in a ‘non-college’ community, underage drinking can completely ruin a business and shut it down for good. The stress of this is one of the many reasons I got out of the business” (Lindahl, Jay). My dad made a great point about the location in which a college student is drinking, as that is a major factor in determining if whether or not they’d be able to drink in the bar scene. This definitely doesn’t stop students, as they are often seen at house parties if they aren’t able to get into the bars.
Brenoff states that demystifying alcohol would seem to cause the kids to care less about it. She touches on the cultural aspect that teens in places such as Europe will have a glass of wine at dinner with their parents. The legal drinking age is also 18 in such places, but the binge-drinking tends to be lower. Parents of college students are often trying to be seen as one of the ‘cool’ parents and encourage drinking, claiming it’s a “rite of passage” (HuffingtonPost). “Here’s the reality: Kids who are given sips of alcohol in middle school are more likely to drink in high school. Those who don’t drink alcohol in high school are less likely to binge drink in college” (HuffingtonPost). These last two sources were great in linking all the information together. It brought in the college life, the underage drinking, and the effects of alcohol which are implied. Again, the idea of graphs depicting the data seems more appealing to me.
Overall, the journey of learning about alcohol was rather successful. I feel like I was able to answer my questions that I had posed at the beginning of the process. I’m now able to comprehend what in alcohol affects the body and why it does so. I was also able to conclude that advertising companies are finding ways to target minors. And lastly, I was given the perspective as to why college students may or may not engage in binge-drinking based on the behaviors of the parents. I do wish I could have found more information on the stigma and/or expectation of college kids and the drinking life. The information I found was more geared towards why some students may partake in drinking more than others. Saying this, I do plan on finding out why college students are seemingly ‘welcomed’ into the drinking world as soon as they graduate high school. I enjoyed learning about the topic and will continue to be intrigued by the effects on the anatomy. I hope to use this knowledge later in life when I could possibly be faced with the questions and struggles of future kids and family.