“Here for a good time, not a long time”: Decision-making, future consequences and alcohol use among Northern Irish adolescents

Abstract

A focus group methodology was employed in post-primary (high) schools in Northern Ireland to examine 15- to 16-year-olds’ (n = 68) understanding of the consideration of future consequences (CFC) scale (Strathman, A., Gleicher, F., Boninger, D. S., & Edwards, C. S. (1994). The consideration of future consequences: Weighing immediate and distant outcomes of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 742–752) and additionally to examine if and how participants considered the future when making decisions generally and decisions about drinking behaviours more specifically. Results showed that many participants found some items of the CFC scale difficult to understand and reported that having the items explained and contextualised helped in their understanding of them. Most participants reported consideration only of the short-term consequences of behaviours more generally and of alcohol use more specifically. Implications for research of CFC and health promotion messages and interventions among this age group are discussed.

• Alcohol
• decision-making
• consideration of future consequences

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the study participants and their schools for taking part.

Declaration of interest

The authors would like to thank the Eastern Drug and Alcohol Coordination Team for funding the project that allowed this research to take place.