Abstract
Non-drinkers make up a growing proportion of young adults in many countries. Perhaps mirroring this, academic research focused on non-drinkers is an emerging field of work across disciplinary boundaries. In this chapter, we first provide an overview of qualitative research which has tended to focus on non-drinking as a lifestyle choice for young people, entailing issues relating to motivation, identity and self-management, and quantitative research which have typically explored how ‘views of non-drinkers’ might predict drinking behaviour among young adults and young people. We then problematise understandings of ‘non-drinkers’ and ‘non-drinking’ as straightforward terms drawing on contemporary sociological theory and critical research. The chapter concludes with an exploration of how these emergent themes of the ‘non-drinking literature’ might be used to inform policy and practice to promote moderate alcohol consumption among young adults. We also explore a future research agenda for academics planning research concerning non-drinking and non-drinkers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Banister, E., Piacentini, M., & Grimes, A. (2017). Identity refusal and the non-drinking self. In K. Diehl & C. Yoon (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research Volume 43 (pp: 457–458). Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research.
Banister, E., Piacentini, M. G., & Grimes, G. (2019). Identity refusal: Distancing from non-drinking in a drinking culture. Sociology, 53, 744–761.
BBC. (2018, July 19). Generation sensible’ in five charts. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/44880278.
Brown, A. L., Koelsch, L., & Yufik, T. (2010). The exception to the rule: Non-drinkers at college student parties: 834. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 34(6), 219A.
Charles, G. (2012). Change4Life tackles sensible drinking mission. Campaign. Retrieved 3 October 2019 from https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/change4life-tackles-sensible-drinking-mission/1115582.
Cherrier, H., & Gurrieri, L. (2013). Anti-consumption choices performed in a drinking culture: Normative struggles and repairs. Journal of Macromarketing, 33(3), 232–244.
Cocker, H., Piacentini, M., & Banister, E. (2018). Managing dramaturgical dilemmas: Youth drinking and multiple identities. European Journal of Marketing, 52(5/6), 1305–1328.
Conroy, D., & de Visser, R. (2013). ‘Man up!’: Discursive constructions of non-drinkers among UK undergraduates. Journal of Health Psychology, 18(11), 1432–1444.
Conroy, D., & de Visser, R. (2014). Being a non-drinking student: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Psychology & Health, 29(5), 536–551.
Conroy, D., & de Visser, R. (2015). The importance of authenticity for student non-drinkers: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Journal of Health Psychology, 20(11), 1483–1493.
Conroy, D., & de Visser, R. O. (2018). Benefits and drawbacks of social non-drinking identified by British university students. Drug & Alcohol Review, 37, S89–S97.
Conroy, D., Sparks, P., & de Visser, R. (2015). Efficacy of a non-drinking mental simulation intervention for reducing student alcohol consumption. British Journal of Health Psychology, 20(4), 688–707.
Curry, S., Marlatt, G. A., & Gordon, J. R. (1987). Abstinence violation effect: Validation of an attributional construct with smoking cessation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55(2), 145.
Department of Health. (2016). Alcohol guidelines review. Report from the Guidelines Development Group to the UK Chief Medical Officers. Retrieved 3 October 2019 from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/545739/GDG_report-Jan2016.pdf.
de Visser, R. O., & Smith, J. A. (2007). Alcohol consumption and masculine identity among young men. Psychology and Health, 22(5), 595–614.
Epler, A. J., Sher, K. J., & Piasecki, T. M. (2009). Reasons for abstaining or limiting drinking: A developmental perspective. Psychology of Addictive Behavior, 23(3), 428–442.
Fossey, E., Loretto, W., & Plant, M. (1996). Alcohol and youth. In L. Harrison (Ed.), Alcohol problems in the community (pp. 52–75). London: Routledge.
Gerrard, M., Gibbons, F. X., Reis-Bergan, M., Trudeau, L., Vande Lune, L. S., & Buunk, B. (2002). Inhibitory effects of drinker and nondrinker prototypes on adolescent alcohol consumption. Health Psychology, 21(6), 601–609.
Graber, R., de Visser, R., & Abraham, C. (2016). Staying in the ‘sweet spot’: A resilience-based analysis of the lived experience of low-risk drinking and abstention among British youth. Psychology & Health, 31(1), 79–99.
Herman-Kinney, N. J., & Kinney, D. A. (2013). Sober as deviant: The stigma of sobriety and how some college students “stay dry” on a “wet” campus. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 42(1), 64–103.
Herring, R., Bayley, M., & Hurcombe, R. (2014). ‘But no one told me it’s okay to not drink’: A qualitative study of young people who drink little or no alcohol. Journal of Substance Use, 19(1/2), 95–102.
Hogg, M. A. (2016). Social identity theory. In S. Mckeown, R. Haji, & N. Ferguson (Eds.), Understanding peace and conflict through social identity theory (pp. 3–17). Cham: Springer.
Huang, J. H., DeJong, W., Schneider, S. K., & Towvim, L. G. (2011). Endorsed reasons for not drinking alcohol: A comparison of college student drinkers and abstainers. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 34(1), 64–73.
Jacobs, L., Conroy, D., & Parke, A. (2018). Negative experiences of non-drinking college students in Great Britain: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction, 16(3), 737–750.
Jaensch, J., Whitehead, D., Prichard, I., & Hutton, A. (2018). Exploring young peoples’ use of alcohol at outdoor music festivals in Australia. Journal of Applied Youth Studies, 2(3), 32–42.
Leeds University Union. (2019). Union events. Retrieved 30 April 2019 from https://www.luu.org.uk/union-events/.
Measham, F. (2004). The decline of ecstasy, the rise of ‘binge’ drinking and the persistence of pleasure. Probation Journal, 51(4), 309–326.
Measham, F. (2008). The turning tides of intoxication: Young people’s drinking in Britain in the 2000s. Health Education, 108(3), 207–222.
Morton, C. (2016). ‘Coming out’, making sacrifices and the fun of being sober: A thematic analysis of non-drinking and light drinking students’ accounts (Dissertation available).
Nairn, K., Higgins, J., Thompson, B., Anderson, M., & Fu, N. (2006). “It’s just like the teenage stereotype, you go out and drink and stuff”: Hearing from young people who don’t drink. Journal of Youth Studies, 9(3), 287–304.
Niland, P., McCreanor, T., Lyons, A. C., & Griffin, C. (2017). Alcohol marketing on social media: Young adults engage with alcohol marketing on facebook. Addiction Research & Theory, 25(4), 273–284.
NHS. (2016). The risks of drinking too much. Retrieved 4 September 2018 from https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/the-risks-of-drinking-too-much/#low-risk-drinking-advice.
NUS Alcohol Impact. (2016). Students and alcohol 2016: Research into students’ relationship with alcohol. Available at http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/nusdigital/document/documents/27249/9c439fd3a22644fee56ed771c584303a/NUS_Alcohol_Impact_Students_and_alcohol_2016.pdf.
Perkins, H. (2007). Misperceptions of peer drinking norms in Canada: Another look at the “reign of error” and its consequences among college students. Addictive Behaviors, 32(11), 2645–2656.
Piacentini, M. G., & Banister, E. N. (2006). Getting hammered? Students coping with alcohol. Journal of Consumer Behaviour: An International Research Review, 5(2), 145–156.
Piacentini, M. G., & Banister, E. N. (2009). Managing anti-consumption in an excessive drinking culture. Journal of Business Research, 62(2), 279–288.
Piacentini, M. P., Chatzidakis, A., & Banister, E. N. (2012). Making sense of drinking: the role of techniques of neutralisation and counter-neutralisation in negotiating alcohol consumption. Sociology of Health & Illness, 34(6), 841–857.
Regan, D., & Morrison, T. G. (2011). Development and validation of a scale measuring attitudes toward non-drinkers. Substance Use and Misuse, 46(5), 580–590.
Regan, D., & Morrison, T. G. (2013). Adolescents’ negative attitudes towards non-drinkers: A novel predictor of risky drinking. Journal of Health Psychology, 18(11), 1465–1477.
Regan, D., & Morrison, T. G. (2017). Temporal stability and predictive validity of the regan attitudes toward non-drinkers scale. SAGE Open, 7(2).
Rivis, A., Sheeran, P., & Armitage, C. J. (2006). Augmenting the theory of planned behaviour with the prototype/willingness model: Predictive validity of actor versus abstainer prototypes for adolescents’ health-protective and health-risk intentions. British Journal of Health Psychology, 11(3), 483–500.
Robertson, K., & Tustin, K. (2018). Students who limit their drinking, as recommended by national guidelines, are stigmatized, ostracized, or the subject of peer pressure: Limiting consumption is all but prohibited in a culture of intoxication. Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, 12, 1178221818792414.
Romo, L. K., Dinsmore, D. R., Connolly, T. L., & Davis, C. N. (2015). An examination of how professionals who abstain from alcohol communicatively negotiate their non-drinking identity. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 43(1), 91–111.
Ross, C. S., Maple, E., Siegel, M., DeJong, W., Naimi, T. S., Padon, A. A., …, Jernigan, D. H. 2015. The relationship between population-level exposure to alcohol advertising on television and brand-specific consumption among underage youth in the US. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 50(3), 358–364.
Scott, S. (2018). A sociology of nothing: Understanding the unmarked. Sociology, 52(1), 3–19.
Seaman, P., & Ikegwuonu, T. (2010). Drinking to belong. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Retrieved 1 November 2019 from https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/alcohol-young-adults-full.pdf.
Supski, S., & Lindsay, J. (2017). ‘There’s something wrong with you’ how young people choose abstinence in a heavy drinking culture. Young, 25(4), 323–338.
Szmigin, I., Bengry-Howell, A., Griffin, C., Hackley, C., & Mistral, W. (2011). Social marketing, individual responsibility and the “culture of intoxication”. European Journal of Marketing, 45(5), 759–779.
Valentine, G., Holloway, S. L., & Jayne, M. (2010). Contemporary cultures of abstinence and the nighttime economy: Muslim attitudes towards alcohol and the implications for social cohesion. Environment and Planning, 42(1), 8–22.
Yeomans, H. (2018). New Year, new you: A qualitative study of dry January, self-formation and positive regulation. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 26(6), 460–468.
Zimmerman, F., & Sieverding, M. (2010). Young adults’ social drinking as explained by an augmented theory of planned behaviour: The roles of prototypes, willingness, and gender. British Journal of Health Psychology, 15, 561–581.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Banister, E., Conroy, D., Piacentini, M. (2019). Non-drinkers and Non-drinking: A Review, a Critique and Pathways to Policy. In: Conroy, D., Measham, F. (eds) Young Adult Drinking Styles. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28607-1_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28607-1_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-28606-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-28607-1
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)