Citation

Furtwängler NA, de Visser RO. J. Health Psychol. 2016; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

University of Sussex, UK rd48@sussex.ac.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1359105316634449

PMID

26975367

Abstract

UK government guidance for alcohol consumption is expressed in 'units' of alcohol. This study employed semi-structured interviews to explore university students' knowledge of, attitudes towards, and use of unit-based guidelines. Thematic analysis revealed that participants were not motivated to adhere to unit-based guidelines and that they lacked the skills required to apply them to reduce their own drinking. Instead, interviewees used individual strategies to monitor their drinking. The results suggest that public health interventions should include provision of information, efforts to motivate young people to change their behaviour and strategies to develop skills for managing alcohol consumption.

© The Author(s) 2016.

Language: en