Crynodeb
Background: Student alcohol consumption has been a prevalent health issue in the UK for decades, although recent studies suggest that student drinking was on a steady decline prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 brought a vast amount of change to the environments and landscape in which student drinking could take place, with the closure of licensed venues and restrictions on socialisation.Methods: Although initial quantitative research had surfaced about the pandemic’s influence on students’ drinking habits in the UK, the current study takes a qualitative approach to try and understand in more depth students’ experiences of alcohol consumption during the pandemic. The current study conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with students at a rural university in Wales and analysed the data using Thematic Analysis.
Results: Three main themes were identified in the data: (1): The Evolved Method of Student Drinking, (2): The Reasons Behind Student Alcohol Consumption in the Pandemic, (3) The Students’ Attitudes Towards COVID & The ‘New Normal’. The findings indicated how strong the desire was for students to continue to socialise despite the pandemic’s restrictions as well as highlighting the ever-existing link between socialisation and alcohol whilst at university.
Conclusions: The location of an individual (at the pub/at home/university), the people around an individual (family/friends/flat mates) and responsibilities (academic work/other commitments) were illuminated as significant factors in the decisions surrounding engagement of alcohol consumption for the students involved. Such findings have applicability wider than just the pandemic and implications of the findings in terms of future policies and research ideas are
discussed.
| Dyddiad Dyfarnu | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Iaith wreiddiol | Saesneg |
| Sefydliad Dyfarnu |
|
| Goruchwyliwr | Alison Mackiewicz (Goruchwylydd) & Rachel Rahman (Goruchwylydd) |