‘You're Less Complete if You Haven't Got a Can in Your Hand’: Alcohol Consumption and Related Harmful Effects in Rural Australia: The Role and Influence of Cultural Capital

Abstract

In rural communities, beliefs and values about drinking as a positive social practice are transmitted, rewarded and reproduced across multiple groups and settings, reinforcing that drinking is an integral part of Australian rural culture. Drinking is so important that engaging in drinking practices creates and sustains cultural capital. As a result, alcohol-related harm is of little concern to rural dwellers.

Larger Regional and Rural Areas in Victoria, Australia, Experience More Alcohol‐Related Injury Presentations at Emergency Departments

“…The higher rates of alcohol‐related attendances at EDs in rural towns suggest that specific characteristics of rural towns between the size of 20,000 and 100,000 people may experience unique problems because of the cultures or possibly because they act as catchments for specific types of people, such as manual or low‐skilled laborers. It has been proposed previously that such towns might develop uniquely harmful cultures around alcohol consumption aligned with conceptualizations of masculine identity 3 . More research is required to further investigate the driving factors behind the higher rates of alcohol consumption and harms within rural and regional areas.…”

“…Within Australia, there is widespread community acceptance of high‐risk alcohol consumption and related disruptive and harmful behaviors. Further, drinking within rural locations is viewed as an integral part of the social context; specifically, it is seen to create and sustain a positive culture and alcohol‐related harms are of little concern …”

Parental supply of alcohol and adolescent drinking: a multilevel analysis of nationally representative data

“…Despite the potential harmful effects of alcohol, many parents see its use as an inevitable rite of passage in adolescence and report harm minimization as the rationale for supplying their children with alcohol. Allan and colleagues [11] interviewed Australian parents who gave their children alcohol and found that many believed that by supplying their children with alcohol they could teach them to drink responsibly and provide a safe place to drink, thereby reducing alcohol-related harm in the long term. However, there is little evidence for a protective effect of parental supply of alcohol.…”

Lifetime Affective and Alcohol Use Disorder: Impact of Comorbidity on Current Functioning and Service Use in a Rural Population

“…This is likely to be indicative of the cultural significance of alcohol in Australia, and particularly in rural locations. For example, previous research has documented the integral role alcohol plays in Australian rural culture, in terms of its intrinsic value as a positive social practice, essential for belonging, with active exclusion of non-drinkers [36]. As a result, alcohol-related harm was of little concern to the rural communities studied [36].…”

“…For example, previous research has documented the integral role alcohol plays in Australian rural culture, in terms of its intrinsic value as a positive social practice, essential for belonging, with active exclusion of non-drinkers [36]. As a result, alcohol-related harm was of little concern to the rural communities studied [36]. The 'cultural capital' of alcohol in rural communities may in part explain the low rates of treatment seeking for AUD in our study or rural participants, despite clearly meeting Addictions with Co-occurring Problems criteria for disorder.…”