| الوصف: |
This thesis investigated drinking patterns in the Russian city of Novosibirsk, with a specific focus on hazardous drinking. It explored the relationship between hazardous drinking and social-economic characteristics, depressive symptoms and self-reported health. The study also provided an in-depth description of drinking patterns, consumption of ‘surrogate’ alcohol, and perceptions of the Russian drinking culture and the state’s alcohol policies. The research used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. First, it assessed alcohol consumption and drinking patterns using data from the HAPIEE (Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe) cohort. Second, a series of 44 semi-structured interviews were conducted with men and women sampled from the HAPIEE cohort. Third, 40 semi-structured interviews were conducted among clients of an alcohol treatment facility. These interviews were focused on hazardous drinking. The main findings were as follows. First, hazardous drinking was common among men, but rare among women (30% of men and 1% of women reported binge drinking, 19% of men and 1% of women reported problem drinking, and 9% of men and less than 1% of women reported more than two negative consequences of drinking). Second, hazardous drinking was associated with lower education (e.g. men with secondary education were 1.9 times more likely to binge drink than men with university education), unemployment, poor health (men and women rating their health as good were more likely to binge than people with poor health), and with certain occupations (e.g. drivers or construction workers were likely to report binge drinking). Third, high accessibility of alcohol and a need to relieve withdrawal symptoms were common reasons for surrogate consumption given in interviews by participants from alcohol treatment facility. Finally, the Russian drinking culture was perceived as characterised by heavy drinking and strongly influenced by the interplay of individual and structural factors. |
