Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Melissa Oldham

Society for the Study of Addiction @addiction-ssa.org · 26d

The UK Government has announced £10 million in funding to support the next generation of leaders in addiction research. Find out more about the Addiction Healthcare Goals Research Leadership Programme: tinyurl.com/2sveeum8

1 10 11

Reposted by Melissa Oldham

Molly Brown @molly-rc-brown.bsky.social · 19d

We want the media and politicians to recognise that there is a large number of women who are supportive of the trans+ community 🏳️‍⚧️

We call on them to report truthfully about the sources of violence against women and to address the systems that perpetuate harm.
notinourname.org.uk/petition/not...

Not In Our Name: Women in support of the trans+ community - Not in our name

notinourname.org.uk

1 2

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · 19d

Well this is the coolest thing to eve happen to any of us?

1 1

Reposted by Melissa Oldham

Society for the Study of Addiction @addiction-ssa.org · 29d

If you are a current #PhD student or have recently submitted your thesis, apply to attend the SSA's annual PhD Symposium in Newcastle upon Tyne on Wednesday 5 November tinyurl.com/355ersv2

1 3

Reposted by Melissa Oldham

Gabriel Caluzzi @gabrielcaluzzi.bsky.social · Aug 28

Nice to have this out in popNAD. It summarises key ideas around declines in youth drinking that we explore in our book. Worth a read for overview of this body of work!

@amypennay.bsky.social @soc-researcher.bsky.social @jholmessheff.bsky.social @capraustralia.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/bdzajx8c

Young people, alcohol and risk: A Culture of Caution

A recent book by an international team of authors theorises the social, cultural and economic shifts accompanying the decline in youth alcohol consumption observed in many high-income countries since ...

nordicwelfare.org

1 4 5

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Aug 19

Well done @yvettemp.bsky.social, what a star!!

2

Reposted by Melissa Oldham

UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care @ucliehc.bsky.social · Aug 8

In this article UCL IEHC expert Dr Melissa Oldham, who tracks drinking trends in the UK, talks about why younger generations are avoiding alcohol consumption 🍺 🍷 www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic...

How we fell out of love with alcohol - and it's NOT just down to Gen Z

Alcohol consumption in Britain has plunged 10 per cent since the millennium, with figures showing rates have dipped among all age groups.

www.dailymail.co.uk

2 3

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 29

I'm so sorry Katie! I was so pleased to see your last tweet and can't imagine how you are feeling now. This is unbelievably cruel! Sending all the strength and solidarity!

1 1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 28

Also covers our paper looking at rising alcohol-specific deaths, important context www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Trends in alcohol-specific deaths in England, 2001–22: an observational study

Alcohol-specific deaths in England remain high and increased after the COVID-19 pandemic. Policies should aim to reduce rates of alcohol consumption at the population level. Substantial investment is ...

www.thelancet.com

1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 28

Nice coverage of @ucl-targ.bsky.social's Alcohol Toolkit Study in this article.. www.alcoholinengland.info/graphs/month...

I would (and did!) say though that any population declines we are seeing are being driven by declining consumption among younger people..
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic...

How we fell out of love with alcohol - and it's NOT just down to Gen Z

Alcohol consumption in Britain has plunged 10 per cent since the millennium, with figures showing rates have dipped among all age groups.

www.dailymail.co.uk

1 1 4

Reposted by Melissa Oldham

The BMJ @bmj.com · Jul 22

Gen Z seem to be drinking less alcohol than older generations.

Why is this—and could it be a public health opportunity?
@emahase.bsky.social reports
www.bmj.com/content/390/...

1 5 13

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 25

Thanks to the dream team who co-authored this paper: Jiexi Yang, Tosan Okpako Dimitra Kale @jamesmorris24.bsky.social @clairevgarnett.bsky.social Sara Wallhed Finn @felixnaughton.bsky.social @jamiebrown.bsky.social

4

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 25

This work is part of my @addiction-ssa.org funded fellowship and will contribute to the development of an intervention aiming to increase reduction attempts amongst risky drinkers.

1 2

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 25

Societal harms were discussed in the context of work drinks, seen as normalising alcohol consumption and being exclusionary. Participants described features of contexts which indicated that contexts were harmful e.g. amount, type and cost of alcohol and patterns of/reasons for consumption.

1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 25

Mental harms were also linked with drinking at home alone. Social harms were associated with heavier drinking in a range of contexts including social drinking out of the home (violence) and drinking at home (relationship damage) or work drinks (reputational damage).

1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 25

Drinking alone at home and big days/nights out were perceived as the most harmful contexts. Participants described a range of alcohol harms. Physical harms tended to be associated with social drinking out of the home (violence) or drinking alone at home (long-term health conditions).

1 1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 25

Participants had rules they used to govern their drinking, related to features of contexts perceived as being harmful (e.g. not drinking on certain days or times). These rules reassured participants that they were operating within the bounds of normal, controlled and therefore less harmful drinking.

1 1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 25

People tended to differentiate their own drinking practices as controlled/safe in relation to the out-of-control behaviours of a stereotypical harmful drinker. This was seen in the content analysis of drawings where participants tended to draw drinking contexts they didn't drink in.

1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 25

New paper! We used focus groups and arts-based methods to explore whether people ‘other’ when making judgements about harmful drinking and the drinking contexts and features of drinking contexts perceived as being indicative of harmful drinking. bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

<em>British Journal of Health Psychology</em> | Wiley Online Library

Objectives To explore whether people ‘other’ when making judgements about ‘harmful’ drinking and the drinking contexts (e.g., pub with friends) and features of drinking contexts (e.g., location, com.....

bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1 4 6

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 24

I included all drawings in the supplementary materials if you want to check it out.

1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 24

We had participants at the start of focus groups draw contexts they thought of as being linked to more harmful drinking. They then shared their pictures with the group and spoke about the 'red flags' for them, comparing and contrasting across drawings.

1 1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 24

Participants also described a range of features of contexts which they felt indicated that contexts were harmful such as the reason for drinking, the amount, type and cost of alcohol and patterns of consumption.

1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 24

When asked to reflect on harmful drinking contexts, risky drinkers in England described a broad spectrum of harms which were differentially applicable to different drinking contexts. Participants most frequently highlighted drinking alone at home, or big days or nights out as more harmful contexts.

1 1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 24

Participants constructed personal rules, often focused on contextual features such as timings or reasons for drinking, which served to differentiate their drinking practices from those of a stereotypical out of control, harmful drinker.

1 1

Melissa Oldham @melissaoldham.bsky.social · Jul 24

People tended to differentiate their own drinking practices as controlled and safe in relation to the out-of-control behaviours of a harmful drinker. This was seen in content analysis of drawings where participants tended to draw drinking contexts which were different to those they drank in.

1 1