Purpose
Rising trends in alcohol consumption and early drinking initiation pose serious health risks especially for adolescents. Learner’s prior knowledge about alcohol gained from the social surroundings and the media are important sources that can impact the learning outcomes in health education. The purpose of this paper is to map adolescents’ perceptions of alcohol in Punjab, India and how these perceptions are related to their attitudes towards their social surroundings and the media.
Design/methodology/approach
The questionnaire was created after informal discussions with local people who consume alcohol and discussions with alcohol-related experts. Students from five schools (n=379, average age=13.6 years) in the urban region of Punjab, India, filled in a questionnaire. Quantitative tests were performed on the questionnaire data. Summative content analysis was performed for the textbook content about alcohol from classes 1 to 10.
Findings
Data suggest that students gain knowledge about alcohol from multiple sources, including society, the media and education. While society and the media can give misinformation, education did not provide them with factual scientific information about alcohol. Students from financially marginalized social surroundings experience the presence and use of alcohol more frequently; they trust the media and celebrities somewhat unquestioningly and, hence, are more at-risk.
Research limitations/implications
All participants in informal discussions as well as all participating schools in the study were from urban regions. Data about individual’s socio-economic conditions was not collected.
Originality/value
This research investigates perceptions of alcohol that are derived from adolescents’ social surroundings, perceptions of the media and perceptions gained through educational guidance in a developing country. Such multi-dimensional investigations have not been conducted earlier.
Aikuiskasvatuksen tutkijat kiistelivät toista vuosikymmentä siitä, puhuako tieteenalasta ja sen käytännöistä sivistyksenä vai aikuiskasvatuksena. Aikuiskasvatus vakiintui ydinkäsitteeksi 1950-luvun puolivälissä. Termikiistan juurisyyt ovat yhä läsnä tavassa, jolla näemme aikuiskasvatustieteen tarkoituksen.
This paper describes the technical information and performance of a new multi-objective chamber system enabling the control of environmental variables (e.g., temperature, CO 2 , air humidity, wind speed, and UV-B radiation) for understanding plant responses to climate change. Over a whole growing season, four different climate scenarios were evenly programmed into the system's 16 chambers as ambient environment (AMB), elevated temperature (ET), elevated CO 2 concentration (EC) and elevated temperature and CO 2 concentration (ETC). Simultaneously, the chamber effects were assessed regarding the physiological responses and growth of a boreal perennial grass (reed canary grass, Phalaris arundinacea L.). During the growing season, the chamber system provided a wide variety of climatic conditions for air temperature (T a ), relative humidity (RH) and CO 2 concentration (C a ) in the AMB chambers following outside conditions. The target temperature (+3.5 o C) was achieved to a good degree in the ET and ETC chambers, being on average 3.3°C and 3.7°C higher than ambient conditions, respectively. The target concentration of CO 2 (700 ppm) was also well achieved in the EC and ETC chambers, being on average 704 ppm and 703 ppm, respectively. The stable airflow condition inside all of the chambers provided a homogeneous distribution of gases and temperature. The decreases in RH and increases in vapour pressure deficit (VPD) in the elevated temperature chambers were also maintained at a low level. Chamber effects were observed, with some physiological and growth parameters of plants being significantly lower in the AMB chambers, compared to outside conditions. The plant growth was negatively affected by the reduced radiation inside the chambers.
Kirjoituksessa hahmotellaan kahta toisistaan eroavaa demokratiakäsitystä, joista molemmista löytyy yhteys 1800-luvun puolivälissä muotoiltuun kehitysoppiin. Talouden vapautta korostava oppi pitää inhimillisen kehityksen liikkeellepanevana voimana ihmisten itsekästä voitonhalua. Jos yksilöiden välistä kilpailua yritetään rajoittaa, kyseessä ei voi olla demokratia. Kilpailullisen demokratian rinnalla on vaikuttanut demokratiakäsitys, jonka perustana on yhteinen neuvonpito. Sille on ominaista pyrkimys sovitella vastakkaisia toiveita ja pyrkimyksiä. Näin ajateltuna evoluution toimijoita eivät ole yksilöt vaan yhteisöt. Jos joku yksilö tai kansanosa on jätetty neuvonpidon ulkopuolelle, silloin kyse ei voi olla demokratiasta. Näin ajateltuna demokratia voidaan ymmärtää joko voitonhalun innoittamaksi yksilöiden väliseksi kilpailuksi tai yhteisökokonaisuuden kannalta parasta ratkaisua etsiväksi neuvonpidoksi. Nämä kaksi toisensa poissulkevaa demokratian muotoa ovat läsnä aikamme poliittisessa keskustelussa, vaikka ne jäävätkin helposti huomaamatta. Tämä ei ole ongelmatonta, sillä demokratian kilpailullistaminen hankaloittaa neuvonpitoa uhaten samalla tukahduttaa yhteisön oppimiskyvyn.
Valistajia, sivistäjiä, poliitikkoja ja asiantuntijoita : näkökulmia aikuiskasvatuksen kentän vaikuttajiin / toimittaneet Kari Kantasalmi ja Mauri Nest. Tampere : Tampere University Press, 2014.
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