Designing drunkenness: How pubs, bars and nightclubs increase alcohol sales.

Using ethnographic data, this paper investigates the techniques used inside pubs, bars and nightclubs to solicit and sustain alcohol consumption among patrons. Focus is on venues with the majority of patrons belonging to the age group of approximately 15-35 years. The paper identifies a number of techniques, both overt and covert, including: alcohol advertising; special offers (e.g. 'Happy Hours' and 'all you can drink' specials); bartenders' use of strategic intimacy, flirtation, and encouragements to buy more; speed drinking devices (e.g. shot glasses, 'beer bongs' and large pitchers); and architectural features that hamper moderate drinking while accelerating the purchase and intake of alcohol. These techniques were used most extensively in low-priced venues with the youngest patrons (e.g. themed chain pubs) and less so in more expensive venues with more adult patrons (e.g. craft beer bars). The paper argues that youth-oriented drinking venues may be conceived as staged atmospheres of consumption where individuals are seduced and compelled into purchasing alcohol. A team of 12 researchers collected the data through interviews and observations in pubs, bars and nightclubs in four cities across Denmark.

The pleasures of drunken one-night stands: Assemblage theory and narrative environments.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we use assemblage theory to investigate the link between alcohol use and one-night stands. METHODS: The data come from qualitative interviews conducted with 104 young participants in the night-time economy. RESULTS: We show that: (i) alcohol-fuelled sexual explorations (e.g. erotic fantasizing, flirting and sex) are of paramount importance for young partygoers; (ii) sexualized territories (e.g. private parties, rural feasts and the backseat of cars) significantly shape the experience and performance of one-night stands; and (iii) contrary to previous research, one-night stands are to a large degree associated with pleasure-the immediate pleasure of having sex and the long-term pleasure of telling about it to others. CONCLUSION: We argue that drunken one-night stands are part and parcel of a drinking culture that places high value on sexual encounters and personal sex stories.

Drunken environments: a survey of bartenders working in pubs, bars and nightclubs.

There is evidence that bartenders play a key role in respect of the health and safety of patrons in nightlife environments. However, little is known of how bartenders themselves are affected by the environments in which they work, especially with regard to their exposure to violence, pressure to drink and stress. We used a cross-sectional survey to assess the experiences of bartenders (n = 424) working in pubs, bars and nightclubs in Denmark. 71% of the respondents reported drinking while working, 6% reported using other drugs than alcohol at work, and 33% reported drinking even when they did not feel like it because of pressure to drink at work. Verbal assaults and threats were common and associated with higher levels of perceived stress. Bartenders' work environment poses a risk for the development of alcohol use disorders. The fact that many bartenders consume significant quantities of alcohol during their working hours may pose a risk not only to their own safety, but also to that of their colleagues and patrons.

Intoxicating stories: the characteristics, contexts and implications of drinking stories among Danish youth.

AIMS: To study the characteristics, contexts and implications of drinking stories among young drinkers. METHODS: Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted among Danish youth at a beach resort in Bulgaria. The fieldwork included three months of participant observation and 45 semi-structured interviews with a total of 104 tourists and 11 guides. The participants in the study were aged between 16 and 26 years. RESULTS: The participants often shared drinking stories with each other. The stories they told involved alcohol consumption followed by one or several acts of transgression such as stripping, fighting or vomiting. They generally told the stories with amusement or pride. However, some stories were told in a critical tone and focused on negative experiences. The data suggest that for many participants, part of their reason for engaging in heavy drinking and drunken transgressions was that they wanted to build a repertoire of personal drinking stories. Their drinking behaviour was subtly motivated, inspired and guided by the drinking stories that they heard from others, as well as by the drinking stories that they themselves wanted to create. CONCLUSION: There is an intimate interactional relationship between drinking behaviour and drinking stories. Drinking behaviours can generate stories, but the stories, in turn, influence behaviours and attitudes related to alcohol. Drinking stories are therefore key to understanding drinking among youth.

The influence of guides on alcohol consumption among young tourists at a nightlife resort.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess how participation in party activities with guides affects alcohol consumption among young tourists at an international nightlife resort. METHODS: Prospective survey of 112 Danish tourists in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, who were asked about their drinking and activities with guides on three separate nights out. RESULTS: Participation in party activities with guides, such as drinking games and Pub Crawls, were associated with heavily increased drinking compared with nights out without guides, but not in a dose-response type relationship. CONCLUSION: Participating in party activities with guides increases drinking among young tourists who are already drinking large amounts of alcohol during their vacation. Further studies are needed to measure, describe, and change the role played by guides at nightlife resorts.

Predictors of hangover during a week of heavy drinking on holiday.

AIMS: To investigate predictors of hangover during a week of heavy drinking in young adults. Design Observational prospective study. METHODS: A total of 112 young Danish tourists were interviewed on three occasions during their holiday. They completed the Acute Hangover Scale and answered questions about their alcohol consumption and rest duration. The incidence of hangover was analysed as the proportion of heavy drinkers (i.e. those reporting drinking more than 12 standard units of alcohol during the night before) scoring above the 90th percentile of light drinkers (i.e. those who had consumed fewer than seven standard units the night before). We estimated the course and predictors of hangover using random effects regression. RESULTS: The incidence of hangover was 68% after drinking more than 12 standard units in the whole sample. The severity of hangover increased significantly during a week of heavy drinking and there was a time x number of drinks interaction, indicating that the impact of alcohol consumed on hangover became more pronounced later in the week. Levels of drinking before the holiday did not predict hangover. CONCLUSIONS: Hangovers after heavy drinking during holidays appear to be related both to amount drunk and time into the holiday.

Evening experiences versus drinking indicators as predictors of hangover on a summer holiday.

Little is known about predictors of hangover symptoms. The subjective experience of the "night out" may influence the experience of hangover symptoms. We conducted a survey of 325 young men and women at a vacation resort during the daytime, administering subjects the Acute Hangover Scale (AHS) and asking questions about drinking and behaviors the night before. Half of the subjects reported feeling hangover symptoms on a single item relating to hangovers in general, but 73% scored above 1 on the full AHS. Several variables correlated with AHS, but in multivariate analyses, only variables associated with drunkenness the night before (having been more drunk than intended and still feeling intoxicated) and number of days spent in the resort were associated with AHS. Future studies should work on developing standardized definitions of hangover that can be used to study the phenomenon further.

Safety problems among heavy-drinking youth at a Bulgarian nightlife resort.

BACKGROUND: Vacations at international nightlife resorts represent an important but also risky element in the lives of youth in many countries. There is an urgent need for evaluating the role played by bars and nightclubs in producing and reducing risks; this task is important, especially at upcoming nightlife resorts with limited experience in managing young partygoers from other countries. METHODS: Seven weeks of ethnographic fieldwork was conducted during the summer 2007 at the emerging Bulgarian nightlife resort, Sunny Beach. The research instrument "KAReN" was used as a guideline to evaluate the safety conditions in nine bars and three nightclubs. RESULTS: The evaluation highlights five key factors at the venues that put young tourists in danger: violent security staff, overcrowding, shattered glass on the floor, dancing on furniture, and irresponsible alcohol serving. Action is needed to improve the safety conditions at the venues of Sunny Beach and other nightlife resorts. The improvements call for integrated strategies involving travel agencies, local authorities, health services, tourists and venues.

Party package travel: alcohol use and related problems in a holiday resort: a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: People travelling abroad tend to increase their use of alcohol and other drugs. In the present study we describe organized party activities in connection with young tourists' drinking, and the differences between young people travelling with and without organized party activities. METHODS: We conducted ethnographic observations and a cross-sectional survey in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria. RESULTS: The behaviour of the guides from two travel agencies strongly promoted heavy drinking, but discouraged illicit drug use. Even after controlling for several potential confounders, young people who travelled with such "party package travel agencies" were more likely to drink 12 or more units when going out. In univariate analyses, they were also more likely to get into fights, but were not more likely to seek medical assistance or medical assistance for an accident or an alcohol-related problem. After controlling for confounders, the association between type of travel agency and getting into fights was no longer significant. Short-term consequences of drinking in the holiday resort did not differ between party package travellers and ordinary package travellers. CONCLUSION: There may be a small impact of party package travels on young people's drinking. Strategies could be developed used to minimise the harm associated with both party package travel and other kinds of travel where heavy substance use is likely to occur.

Gender differences in self-reported drinking-induced disinhibition of sexual behaviors.

Sex and drinking go hand-in-hand in Western societies. Men also tend to report more sexual disinhibition under the influence of alcohol and drugs than women. At a vacation resort, we conducted a survey of young men and women regarding self-reported alcohol-related sexual disinhibition (ARSD), and we administered the Drinking-Induced Disinhibition Scale (DIDS). We made several comparisons of behavioral patterns using the ARSD scale of the DIDS for each gender: kissing or having sex vs. no sexual contact, or having sex versus kissing or no contact. In general, men reported more ARSD than women. Men who reported either kissing or having sex the night before reported significantly more ARSD than men not reporting either kissing or having sex. Women who had had sex the night before reported more ARSD than women who had either kissed or not reported any sexual contact on the night before, but women who had kissed did not differ from women who had not had any sexual contact. We suggest that while the DIDS scale of alcohol-related sexual disinhibition is a valid instrument, gender bias exists. In conclusion, the DIDS does measure the constructs that it sets out to measure. However, significant gender differences do exist and appear to go beyond differences in actual behavior in terms of sexual disinhibition. Men and women describe themselves differently when they describe sexual behavior in general, even when they report similar recent behavior, and we suggest that these differences at least partly reflect sexual stereotypes.

Patterns of binge drinking at an international nightlife resort.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to compare the patterns of substance use in young Danes while holidaying in the Bulgarian holiday resort of Sunny Beach (SB) to their patterns of substance use in Denmark. METHODS: Data were collected from visitors to SB in 2007 (n = 1011). Information on alcohol and drug use was surveyed using a short questionnaire. FINDINGS: Most individuals surveyed were regular drinkers in Denmark, and the use of most illicit drugs was rare. Patterns of substance use in SB revealed heavy drinking was common, both in adolescents and young adults. CONCLUSIONS: International nightlife resorts provide a context for excess in drug use and alcohol use. Alcohol poses a potentially severe threat to the short- and long-term health of young tourists, but little attention has been paid to form interventions targeting binge drinking in nightlife resorts.