Finding the meanings of college drinking: an analysis of fraternity drinking stories.
College drinking has traditionally been studied from a public health perspective that attempts to quantify behavior as a means toward description, explanation, and intervention. This article offers a critical and cultural approach to understanding the meanings and functions of high-risk drinking and the ways in which those meanings are reproduced within the culture. Data were collected via an ethnographic study of fraternity members at a large midwestern university to explore the communication of excessive drinking norms. Viewed from various narrative and structural theories, the study examines collected drinking stories as a source for analyzing the construction of meanings surrounding drunkenness for the fraternity subculture. Five themes emerged as functions of drunkenness for the culture. Implications for prevention are discussed.
Workman
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NU Directions, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, 68588, USA. tworkman3@unl.edu
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology; D003469:Culture; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States