Alcohol Use Among Young Adults in the Military : Campaigns and Programs

by National Institute of Health

(Page 4 of 4)

A survey of Air Force officers attending Air Command and Staff College sought to determine the degree to which the Air Force deglamorization campaign is reflected in the alcohol use norms of ACSC students. Survey respondents generally agreed that the ACSC environment is supportive of alcohol deglamorization but noted that despite the deglamorization efforts, students' attention often is focused on alcohol, bringing alcohol to social activities is emphasized, and the student population does not consistently view drinking during the workday as unacceptable. The author recommended that the ACSC command structure and faculty support the deglamorization campaign by continuing to emphasize responsible alcohol use, encouraging the use of designated drivers, and recommending alcoholism treatment when necessary.

Personal Responsibility Campaigns

Alcohol policies in the military often emphasize each individual's personal responsibility regarding alcohol use. For example, alcohol policies in the Navy emphasize "responsible use" or "the application of self-imposed limitations of time, place, and quantity when consuming alcoholic beverages". The Navy's "Best Practices" program aims to reduce alcohol and other drug problems among young at-risk personnel by stressing relationships, relevance, and responsibility. The program emphasizes the impact of each person's behavior on the organization. It encourages those in command to foster positive professional relationships with sailors and focuses on the responsibility of leaders to ensure that sailors live and work in an environment conducive to learning. The program also focuses on the responsibility of sailors to learn and understand Navy policies and expectations. Other elements of the program include providing alternative activities to engage sailors during free time, education sessions including drug abuse awareness training, and consistent use of discipline in response to violations.

Another Navy program, PREVENT aims to provide 18- to 26-year-old sailors with the education and skills necessary to encourage them to act as personally responsible, contributing members of the Navy. Evaluations are not formalized, but the findings reported by the Navy indicate that sailors who attended PREVENT sessions had fewer binge drinking episodes compared with their pre-enlistment frequencies and showed a greater personal awareness and responsibility for their alcohol use patterns and consequences.

Health Promotion Programs

In 1986, the U.S. military adopted a comprehensive policy to foster general health promotion among military personnel, including strategies to reduce substance abuse within this directive. In addition to alcohol and other drug abuse prevention, the policy included measures for smoking prevention and cessation, physical fitness, nutrition, stress management, and the prevention of hypertension. A 1991 survey of Army personnel found that those who reported hazardous drinking (defined as 21 or more drinks per week for men, 14 or more for women) were more likely than other drinkers to engage in risky behaviors such as speeding, tobacco use, and not wearing seat belts. Hazardous drinkers tended to be younger and were less likely to be married. The authors suggest that, given the association between hazardous drinking and other risky behaviors, incorporating alcohol abuse prevention into general health promotion programs may be an especially effective strategy for this population.

Summary

As surveys of military personnel indicate, heavy alcohol use remains a problem in this population. Those especially likely to report heavy drinking are young non-Hispanic White men, with a high school education or less, who are either single or married but living away from their spouse. Military personnel report that drinking often is used to cope with stress, boredom, loneliness, and the lack of other recreational activities. The easy availability of alcohol and drinking opportunities also contributes to alcohol use in this population.

Military alcohol use policies combined with campaigns focusing on alcohol deglamorization, personal responsibility, and health promotion may help reduce heavy alcohol use in this population, but further research is needed to evaluate the effects of these measures. The recent increase in heavy drinking seen throughout the military suggests that these efforts have not been successful in countering hazardous drinking behavior. Most importantly, more research is needed to gain greater understanding of the characteristics of the military culture that promote or allow heavy drinking and binge drinking practices. Based on findings from solid empirical research, the next step would be to develop systemwide approaches to modifying the aspects of the military environment that show the most promise for lowering alcohol consumption rates among young adults, thereby reducing the prevalence of heavy and binge drinking and related problems to a level far below those reported in this paper.

About the Author

NIH is the nation's medical research agency - making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.