Flaunting it on Facebook: Young adults, drinking cultures and the cult of celebrity

Copyright © Antonia Lyons; Tim McCreanor; Fiona Hutton; Ian Goodwin; Helen Moewaka Barnes; Christine Griffin; Kerryellen Vroman; Acushla Dee O’Carroll; Patricia Niland; Lina Samu Print publication available from: http://www.drinkingcultures.info/Young adults in Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ) regularly engage in heavy drinking episodes with groups of friends within a collective culture of intoxication to ‘have fun’ and ‘be sociable’. This population has also rapidly increased their use of new social networking technologies (e.g. mobile camera/ video phones; Facebook and YouTube) and are said to be obsessed with identity, image and celebrity. This research project explored the ways in which new technologies are being used by a range of young people (and others, including marketers) in drinking practices and drinking cultures in Aotearoa/NZ. It also explored how these technologies impact on young adults’ behaviours and identities, and how this varies across young adults of diverse ethnicities (Maori [indigenous people of NZ], Pasifika [people descended from the Pacific Islands] and Pakeha [people of European descent]), social classes and genders. We collected data from a large and diverse sample of young adults aged 18-25 years employing novel and innovative methodologies across three data collection stages. In total 141 participants took part in 34 friendship focus group discussions (12 Pakeha, 12 Maori and 10 Pasifika groups) while 23 young adults showed and discussed their Facebook pages during an individual interview that involved screencapture software and video recordings. Popular online material regarding drinking alcohol was also collected (via groups, interviews, and web searches), providing a database of 487 links to relevant material (including websites, apps, and games). Critical and in-depth qualitative analyses across these multimodal datasets were undertaken. Key findings demonstrated that social technologies play a crucial role in young adults’ drinking cultures and processes of identity construction. Consuming alcohol to a point of intoxication was a commonplace leisure-time activity for most of the young adult participants, and social network technologies were fully integrated into their drinking cultures. Facebook was employed by all participants and was used before, during and following drinking episodes. Uploading and sharing photos on Facebook was particularly central to young people’s drinking cultures and the ongoing creation of their identities. This involved a great deal of Facebook ‘work’ to ensure appropriate identity displays such as tagging (the addition of explanatory or identifying labels) and untagging photos. Being visible online was crucial for many young adults, and they put significant amounts of time and energy into updating and maintaining Facebook pages, particularly with material regarding drinking practices and events. However this was not consistent across the sample, and our findings revealed nuanced and complex ways in which people from different ethnicities, genders and social classes engaged with drinking cultures and new technologies in different ways, reflecting their positioning within the social structure. Pakeha shared their drinking practices online with relatively little reflection, while Pasifika and Maori participants were more likely to discuss avoiding online displays of drinking and demonstrated greater reflexive self-surveillance. Females spoke of being more aware of normative expectations around gender than males, and described particular forms of online identity displays (e.g. moderated intake, controlled selfdetermination). Participants from upper socio-economic groups expressed less concern than others about both drinking and posting material online. Celebrity culture was actively engaged with, in part at least, as a means of expressing what it is to be a young adult in contemporary society, and reinforcing the need for young people to engage in their own everyday practices of ‘celebritising’ themselves through drinking cultures online. Alcohol companies employed social media to market their products to young people in sophisticated ways that meant the campaigns and actions were rarely perceived as marketing. Online alcohol marketing initiatives were actively appropriated by young people and reproduced within their Facebook pages to present tastes and preferences, facilitate social interaction, construct identities, and more generally develop cultural capital. These commercial activities within the commercial platforms that constitute social networking systems contribute heavily to a general ‘culture of intoxication’ while simultaneously allowing young people to ‘create’ and ‘produce’ themselves online via the sharing of consumption ‘choices’, online interactions and activities

Low back pain : a personal projects analysis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Low back pain is characterised by loss of ability to carry out everyday tasks, the disruption of life plans, and psychological distress as well as pain. This study examined the adaptation of individuals with low back pain. In a departure from established models used to study and understand illness representation and adjustment, this study used a personal projects approach to examine the relationship between individuals' appraisals of projects and their functional adaptation to low back pain in the context of their day-to-day goal-directed activities. A functional personal project system was proposed; specifically, those individuals whose project dispositions were highly concordant and socially oriented would have better function and health. For people dealing with low back pain, it was expected that these dispositions, and personal competency, would enhance adaptation. Conversely, poor adaptive abilities, such as difficulties with physical function, social function, and poorer health, would be associated condition-specific perceptions of pain and negative appraisals of project stress[.] The results showed there was a relationship between personal project dispositions and functional ability, well-being, and perceived general health of individuals with low back pain. The results did not confirm that a functional project system possessed adaptive benefits. However, the appraisal of pain as salient to the progress and success of projects and stressfulness of personal projects were predictive of limited function and poorer health. Notably, all aspects of function, both social and physical, were associated with pain-salience cognition. Furthermore, pain salience cognition was still predictive of function after traditional predictors of low back pain disability, pain severity or pain-related fear, were included in the analysis. The significance of the relationship of pain and negative appraisals of the effect of pain on performance supports functional self-efficacy and pain-related fears models used to explain disability level in individuals with low back pain. Since this personal projects analysis was an integrated assessment of individuals' dispositions in the context of participants' everyday lives, it was concluded that pain salience and stressfulness of projects outweighed any advantages offered by their other dispositions in negotiating the participant's personal projects

I Do the Best I Can: Caregivers\u27 Perceptions of Informal Caregiving for Older Adults in Belize

In this first study of informal caregiving for older adults in Belize, 29 caregivers described their experiences of caregiving, how they perceived and managed the role, and what critical resources they needed. The three main themes identified in the caregiver interviews were the experiences of caregivers, the rewards of caregiving, and navigating the caregiver role. Caregivers identified positively with the role of care provider and they did not describe it as burdensome nor did they describe role strain. However, caregivers\u27 complaints of poor physical health might be construed as somatic expressions of strain. The caregivers\u27 religiosity was salient to how they viewed and coped with their caregiver role. In conclusion, culture appears to influence positively caregivers\u27 beliefs and perceptions of caregiving in Belize. However, the expected increase in the older population and current circumstances of many caregivers and care recipients means there is a critical need for resources to support caregivers and promote aging in place. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.

Happiness Inducing Behaviors in Everyday Life: An Empirical Assessment of “The How of Happiness”

Behavior, Big five, Happiness, Factor analysis, Mediation,

A Personal Projects Analysis: Examining Adaptation to Low Back Pain A Personal Projects Analysis Examining Adaptation to Low Back Pain

Abstract Personal Projects Analysis (PPA) offers an alternative approach to studying adaptation to illnesses. This study investigated adaptation to low back pain using PPA to examine the relationship between participants' perceptions of pain, and their functioning and well-being. Participants appraised their five most important projects on 26 dimensions, such as project value, success and difficulty. Factor analyses of the project ratings yielded five dispositions (Integrity, Personal Agency, Social Visibility, Pain Salience and Stressfulness). In regression analysis all five dispositions significantly predicted Physical and Social Function, Disruption of Roles, and Well-being. 'Pain Salience' was the strongest predictor of functional outcomes, and 'Stressfulness' was the best predictor of well-being