“I like to be different from how I normally am”: Heavy alcohol consumption among female Spanish adolescents and the unsettling of traditional gender norms

[Women drug-users in outpatient treatment: a qualitative study from a gender and community mental health perspective]

Women drug-users face significant challenges in accessing and adhering to outpatient treatment. However, this issue has been underexplored. The study aims to understand the experiences of a group of women undergoing drug use treatment. Between March and December 2021, a qualitative phenomenological interpretative study was carried out through semi-structured interviews with 16 women attending a drug-dependence care center in Catalonia, Spain. Data were processed through content analysis. The results indicate that, despite perceiving a positive impact of the treatment, women experience vulnerabilities related to stigmatization, lack of social support, and insufficient coverage of specific needs, impacting therapeutic follow-up. The findings emphasize the need to enhance resources for specialized care and promote a social support network where women drug-users actively participate.

Are Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, Emotional Eating, Alcohol Intake, and Anxiety Related in University Students in Spain?

Research has suggested that university students are at risk from certain unhealthy habits, such as poor diet or alcohol abuse. At the same time, anxiety levels appear to be higher among university students, which may lead to high levels of emotional eating. The aim of this study was to analyze the degree of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (AMD), emotional eating, alcohol intake, and anxiety among Spanish university students, and the interrelationship of these variables. A total of 252 university students filled out the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) questionnaire for Mediterranean diet adherence, an Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Emotional Eater Questionnaire. We analyzed descriptive data, a t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) for differences, a Pearson correlation, and multiple regression tests. Results showed low levels of AMD among university students (15.5%) and considerable levels of emotional eating (29%) and anxiety (23.6%). However, levels of alcohol dependence were low (2.4%). State-anxiety was a predictor of the emotional eater score and its subscales, and sex also was predictive of subscale guilt and the total score. However, AMD was predicted only by trait-anxiety. These models accounted for between 1.9% and 19%. The results suggest the need for the implementation of educational programs to promote healthy habits among university students at risk.

Why are Spanish Adolescents Binge Drinkers? Focus Group with Adolescents and Parents

Binge drinking in adolescents is a worldwide public healthcare problem. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions about determinants of binge drinking in Spanish adolescents from the perspective of adolescents and parents. A qualitative study using fourteen semi-structured focus groups of adolescents was conducted during the 2014/2015 school year (n = 94), and four with parents (n = 19), based on the I-Change Model for health behaviour acquisition. Students had a low level of knowledge and risk perception and limited self-efficacy. Girls reported more parental control, and when they get drunk, society perceives them worse. Adolescents suggested focus preventive actions to improve self-efficacy and self-esteem. Parents were permissive about alcohol drinking but rejected binge drinking. They offered alcohol to their children, mainly during celebrations. A permissive family environment, lack of control by parents, adolescents’ low-risk perception, low self-esteem and self-efficacy, as well as the increase of binge drinking in girls as part of the reduction of the gender gap, emerge as risk factors for binge drinking. Future health programmes aimed at reducing binge drinking should focus on enhancing motivational factors, self-esteem, and self-efficacy in adolescents; supervision and parental control; as well as pre-motivational factors by increasing knowledge and risk awareness, considering gender differences.

Gender Norms, Roles and Relations and Cannabis-Use Patterns: A Scoping Review

Currently, boys and men use cannabis at higher rates than girls and women, but the gender gap is narrowing. With the legalization of recreational cannabis use in Canada and in multiple US states, these trends call for urgent attention to the need to consider how gender norms, roles and relations influence patterns of cannabis use to inform health promotion and prevention responses. Based on a scoping review on sex, gender and cannabis use, this article consolidates existing evidence from the academic literature on how gender norms, roles and relations impact cannabis-use patterns. Evidence is reviewed on: adherence to dominant masculine and feminine norms and cannabis-use patterns among adolescents and young adults, and how prevailing norms can be both reinstated or reimagined through cannabis use; gendered social dynamics in cannabis-use settings; and the impact of gender roles and relations on cannabis use among young adults of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Findings from the review are compared and contrasted with evidence on gender norms, roles and relations in the context of alcohol and tobacco use. Recommendations for integrating gender transformative principles in health promotion and prevention responses to cannabis use are provided.

Socio-Ecological Influences on Adolescent (Aged 10-17) Alcohol Use and Unhealthy Eating Behaviours: A Systematic Review and Synthesis of Qualitative Studies

Excess body weight and risky alcohol consumption are two of the greatest contributors to global disease. Alcohol use contributes directly and indirectly to weight gain. Health behaviours cluster in adolescence and track to adulthood. This review identified and synthesised qualitative research to provide insight into common underlying factors influencing alcohol use and unhealthy eating behaviours amongst young people aged 10–17. Sixty two studies met inclusion criteria. Twenty eight studies focused on alcohol; 34 focused on eating behaviours. Informed by principles of thematic analysis and meta-ethnography, analysis yielded five themes: (1) use of alcohol and unhealthy food to overcome personal problems; (2) unhealthy eating and alcohol use as fun experiences; (3) food, but not alcohol, choices are based on taste; (4) control and restraint; and (5) demonstrating identity through alcohol and food choices. Young people faced pressure, reinforced by industry, to eat and drink in very specific ways, with clear social consequences if their attitudes or behaviour were deemed unacceptable. No qualitative studies were identified with an explicit and concurrent focus on adolescent eating behaviours and alcohol consumption. Further exploratory work is needed to examine the links between food and alcohol in young people’s emotional, social and cultural lives.