Shifting the focus on men’s risky drinking

Research commissioned by VicHealth into men’s drinking by Turning Point’s Strategic Lead of the Clinical and Social Research Team, Dr Michael Savic, Executive Clinical Director, Prof Dan Lubman and other Monash University researchers suggests that opportunities exist in three areas that healthcare organisations could target in their efforts to reduce the harms that men experience from drinking.

“We are all part of a network of interacting factors, including gender, that together influence our drinking behaviour,” explains Dr Savic.

“By working together, we can shift the focus from the individual behaviours to the shared activities and practices of friendship groups and our broader social networks,” he says.

1. Engage with nuanced perspectives on drinking and risk.

“Our research identified a general distaste for ‘government’ definitions of risky drinking among young men,” Mr Savic explains.

“Participants were distrustful of paternalistic health campaigns and advice about risky drinking.”

For public health messaging about risky drinking to be relevant to men, the research suggests that it needs to engage with contextualised understandings of risk and the realities of social drinking, including the variety of reasons why men drink.

2. Promote social activities between men that don’t revolve around alcohol.

“Participants in our research also described alcohol as central to social interaction and connection,” Dr Savic says.

This means that campaigns promoting individual abstinence or low consumption are unlikely to be effective. 

“Instead, we see an opportunity to promote social connection between men through social activities that don’t necessarily revolve around alcohol,” Mr Savic says.

3. Focus on risk to others in public health campaigns.

Autonomy and individual choice were key aspects of men’s identities and behaviours, according to the research.

“This suggests that campaigns that exclusively focus on individual consumption levels are less likely to be effective,” Dr Savic says.

“A focus on risk to, and care for, others in public health campaigns may be more successful,” he explains.

“For example, one aspect of our Hospo drinking cultures project was to amplify the care shown between hospitality workers as they navigated low-risk drinking and alternative ways of winding down after a shift.”

By working together to develop whole-of-population public health responses in addition to targeted approaches, we can shift risky masculine drinking behaviours and ensure that the men in our communities stay healthy and live fulfilling lives.

• Read more about the research: Exploring men’s risky drinking cultures.
• Learn about the Hospo Drinking Cultures project.
• Read about the role of Australia’s drinking culture in men’s drinking.

For media enquiries, email [email protected] or call 0478 854 644.