Female students' drinking seen through collages and diaries

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate young female consumers' motivations and perceptions of their alcohol consumption in the context of the changing drinking culture among women. Design/methodology/approach - All the data were collected on a university campus in Poland. The research was conducted in two phases, using two research methods: consumer diaries and consumer collages. In Phase 1, purposive sampling was used to establish a group of five female students, all aged 22, who were asked to keep individual written diaries. In Phase 2, consumer collages were prepared and interpreted by four groups consisting of 24 female students. Findings - Both sets of data were thematically analysed, and the emerging themes were divided into two major issues: drinking motives and control and limits. Research limitations/implications - This research is limited by a small sample recruited from one university, and the indicative findings should be used in further research. Practical implications - Better understanding of female students' drinking culture will help to develop more targeted and effective policies and social marketing programmes to prevent further rise in alcohol consumption among female students. Originality/value - This research contributes to the existing literature by deepening our understanding of the unique characteristics of female undergraduate students' drinking, and identifying the areas of convergence between male and female alcohol consumption. It also explores the motivations behind these convergence processes and highlights areas in which differences between genders are still strong.