Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research
To increase understanding of middle-aged drinkers’ alcohol consumption, drinking identities and beliefs about alcohol interventions
Alcohol consumption is most frequently reported by middle-aged drinkers1, putting them at increased risk of experiencing a range of harms2-4. Research is needed to better understand the psychological drivers of middle-aged drinkers’ alcohol consumption, their drinking identities and explore their beliefs about alcohol interventions.
One way to understand middle-aged drinkers’ alcohol consumption is to apply psychological theories5-7.to identify key drivers of consumption. However, our reviews8,9 found few studies had applied psychological theories to predict middle-aged drinkers’ consumption, with most research conducted with young adult populations. In addition, there a lack of research on how consumption relates to middle-aged drinkers’ personal and social identities; some studies show that drinkers distance their consumption from ‘problem drinkers’ consumption10 claiming that they are responsible and do not need to change their behaviour.
There is also a need to explore middle-aged drinkers’ beliefs about alcohol interventions. Our research11,12 found that middle-aged drinkers’ report scepticism about population-level interventions like alcohol guidelines, messages and polices, suggesting that individual-level interventions, liking digital alcohol apps, might be more effective at reducing consumption in this population. However, because most research on digital alcohol apps is conducted with young adult populations13, research is needed to capture middle-aged drinkers’ beliefs about digital alcohol interventions.
This PhD will have three Phases. Phase 1 involves completing a mixed methods systematic review to identify psychological drivers of middle-aged drinkers’ alcohol consumption, conducting focus groups to explore drivers of middle-aged drinkers’ consumption and drinking identities and using a longitudinal survey to test prediction of alcohol consumption using psychological theories.
Phase 2 involves two focus group studies (1) to explore views on alcohol guidelines, messages, and policies, and (2) to identify preferred digital interventions to reduce consumption. Phase 3 will comprise a pilot randomised controlled trial to establish the effectiveness of the digital interventions identified in (2).