This Handbook provides a broad and comprehensive overview of psychological research on alcohol consumption. It explores the psychological theories underpinning alcohol use and misuse, discusses the interventions that can be designed around these theories, and offers key insight into future developments within the field. A range of international experts assess the unique factors that contribute to alcohol-related behaviour as differentiated from other health-related behaviours. They cover the theory and context of alcohol consumption, including possible implications of personality type, motivation and self-regulation, and cultural and demographic factors. After reviewing the evidence for psychological theories and predictors as accounts for alcohol consumption, the book goes on to focus on external influences on consumption and interventions for reducing alcohol consumption, including those based on purchasing and consumption behaviour, technologies such as personalised feedback apps, and social and media phenomena such as "Dry January" and "Hello Sunday Morning". It brings together cutting-edge contemporary research on alcohol consumption in childhood and adolescence, including topics such as managing offers or drinks, "pre-drinking", online identities, how children develop their beliefs about alcohol and how adolescents discuss alcohol with their parents. The book also offers a rounded presentation of the tensions involved in debates around the psychological impacts of alcohol use, discussing its role in helping people to socialise and unwind; as well as recognising the possible negative impacts on health, education and relationships. This book will be of interest to academics, policymakers, public health officials, practitioners, charities and other stakeholders interested in understanding how alcohol affects people psychologically. This book will also be a key resource for students and researchers from across the social sciences.

This book brings together cutting-edge contemporary research and discussion concerning drinking practices among young adults (individuals aged approximately 18-30 years old). Its chapters showcase an interdisciplinary range of perspectives from psychology, sociology, criminology, geography, public health and social policy. The contributors address themes including how identity becomes involved in young adult drinking practices; issues relating to the non-consumption of alcohol within friendship groups; and the role of social context, religious and ethnic orientation, gender identity, and social media use. In doing so, they highlight changing trends in alcohol consumption among young people, which have seen notably fewer young adults consuming alcohol over the last two decades. In acknowledging the complex nature of drinking styles among young adults, the contributors to this collection eschew traditional understandings of young adult drinking which can pathologise and generalise. They advocate instead for an inclusive approach, as demonstrated in the wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, cultural perspectives, methods and international settings represented in this book, in order to better understand the economic, socio-cultural and pharmacological crossroads at which we now stand. This book will appeal in particular to researchers, theorists, practitioners and policy makers working in the alcohol and drugs field, public health and health psychology, in addition to students and researchers from across the social sciences.

This Handbook provides a broad and comprehensive overview of psychological research on alcohol consumption. It explores the psychological theories underpinning alcohol use and misuse, discusses the interventions that can be designed around these theories, and offers key insight into future developments within the field. A range of international experts assess the unique factors that contribute to alcohol-related behaviour as differentiated from other health-related behaviours. They cover the theory and context of alcohol consumption, including possible implications of personality type, motivation and self-regulation, and cultural and demographic factors. After reviewing the evidence for psychological theories and predictors as accounts for alcohol consumption, the book goes on to focus on external influences on consumption and interventions for reducing alcohol consumption, including those based on purchasing and consumption behaviour, technologies such as personalised feedback apps, and social and media phenomena such as "Dry January" and "Hello Sunday Morning". It brings together cutting-edge contemporary research on alcohol consumption in childhood and adolescence, including topics such as managing offers or drinks, "pre-drinking", online identities, how children develop their beliefs about alcohol and how adolescents discuss alcohol with their parents. The book also offers a rounded presentation of the tensions involved in debates around the psychological impacts of alcohol use, discussing its role in helping people to socialise and unwind; as well as recognising the possible negative impacts on health, education and relationships. This book will be of interest to academics, policymakers, public health officials, practitioners, charities and other stakeholders interested in understanding how alcohol affects people psychologically. This book will also be a key resource for students and researchers from across the social sciences.

This book brings together cutting-edge contemporary research and discussion concerning drinking practices among young adults (individuals aged approximately 18-30 years old). Its chapters showcase an interdisciplinary range of perspectives from psychology, sociology, criminology, geography, public health and social policy. The contributors address themes including how identity becomes involved in young adult drinking practices; issues relating to the non-consumption of alcohol within friendship groups; and the role of social context, religious and ethnic orientation, gender identity, and social media use. In doing so, they highlight changing trends in alcohol consumption among young people, which have seen notably fewer young adults consuming alcohol over the last two decades. In acknowledging the complex nature of drinking styles among young adults, the contributors to this collection eschew traditional understandings of young adult drinking which can pathologise and generalise. They advocate instead for an inclusive approach, as demonstrated in the wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, cultural perspectives, methods and international settings represented in this book, in order to better understand the economic, socio-cultural and pharmacological crossroads at which we now stand. This book will appeal in particular to researchers, theorists, practitioners and policy makers working in the alcohol and drugs field, public health and health psychology, in addition to students and researchers from across the social sciences.