Binge drinking can be attributed largely to people’s misperception of the cultural value of alcohol. The 2007 Australian National Health survey estimated that $15.2 billion is spent each year in costs associated through dysfunctional drinking behaviour through hospitals, truancy and property damage. This figure suggests that we, as a society, are willing to accept that amount is a reasonable price to pay for the value that alcohol has in our lives.
Through our initial research on Hello Sunday Morning, this value of alcohol is related to the perception that alcohol is intrinsic to the individual’s fulfilment in the following psycho-social outcomes:
Confidence – the ability (and the excuse) to do whatever we want.
Emotional buffering and state change – The ability (and the excuse) to deal with whatever we need to.
Identity – the ability (and the excuse) to be whoever we want to be.
Young people with dysfunctional drinking behaviours see these outcomes as worth the risk and the cost to their health. This is why traditional methods of health promotion will not work with this issue. The purpose of Hello Sunday Morning is to not scare young people out of drinking, but show them clear and logical ways in which the behaviour can become largely superfluous to what they want to get out of social experiences.
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