Having a good time: young people talk about risk and fun when combining alcohol consumption and water activities

Abstract

Previous studies into alcohol and recreational aquatic activity amongst youth have found that alcohol is widely used in association with recreational aquatic activities in New Zealand (NZ), and young people accept alcohol consumption as an embedded practice. In NZ, certain youth actions in, near or on water, could be defined within a ‘kiwi youth culture’ context, given that these voluntary risk-taking practices are quite wide spread and entrenched, and thus have an element of being culturally defined in that they link to a national proclivity to participate in sometimes high-risk fun. Early in 2011 we undertook a small research project that sought to build on other studies' findings that, for young people, mixing alcohol and aquatics is not uncommon and can put young people in danger. Focus group interviews with 17–24-year olds sought to gain insight into young people's attitudes towards and experiences of alcohol consumption in and around water, and their perceptions of risk levels associated with consuming alcohol during recreational aquatic activities. This paper reports themes to emerge from the focus group interviews, and that support findings from previous research.

Keywords::

• young people
• alcohol consumption
• water activities
• risk

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge and thank my colleague and fellow researcher, Dr Kevin Moran, for his input and contribution to the study reported here, and acknowledge also his previous research work, which has been instrumental in providing a background and context for this study.