Consumo abusivo de cerveja entre jovens no contexto de pós-sindemia de COVID-19: um problema para a Teoria do Comportamento Planejado?

Abstract

Ethyl alcohol stands out as one of the most widely consumed psychoactive substances in the world among young adults, especially in the form of fermented beverages (particularly beer) and, to a lesser extent, in the form of distilled beverages (e.g., cachaça, rum, brandy, whiskey, liqueur, gin, vodka, and tequila). Because it is a carcinogenic, immunosuppressive, toxic substance to body cells and tissues, damaging to the brain, teratogenic, mutagenic, a cause of neuropathies and erectile dysfunction, responsible for developing strong physical and psychological dependence, and one of the main causes of preventable mortality worldwide, several studies have converged on the conclusion that, when it comes to the ingestion of alcoholic beverages, no amount is safe, with the damage to the organism increasing proportionally to the amount consumed. Among the patterns of use, those related to intense/excessive/heavy and/or problematic/abusive consumption are considered the most harmful and damaging from a health perspective (individual and collective), generating significantly deleterious and costly social, educational, occupational, and economic impacts for the individual (and those social groups directly linked to them) and for society as a whole. In this context, the main objective of this thesis was to verify the suitability of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in predicting and explaining beer consumption (regular or problematic) among young people aged 18 to 24, by examining the contribution of the attitudinal, normative and control factors of the model. Three studies were conducted. Study 1 consisted of a narrative review of the literature on harmful alcohol/beer consumption and the Theory of Planned Behavior. Study 2 focused on identifying Critical Behavioral Beliefs (instrumental and experiential), Normative Beliefs (injunctive and descriptive), and Control Beliefs (facilitating and hindering aspects) in a sample of 55 young people who both drank and did not drink beer. Finally, Study 3 empirically tested the TPB – using Pearson's r correlations, Hierarchical Regressions, and Mediation Analysis with the aid of IBM SPSS Statistics and JASP – in a final sample of 118 participants who also drank or did not drink beer. All empirical studies were previously submitted to Brazil Platform/National Health Council and approved by the Research Ethics Committee/Health Sciences Center/Federal University of Paraíba. The results of E01 indicated a considerable prevalence of regular alcohol consumption, including problematic drinking (binge drinking), especially among young men, with a trend of increasing consumption among women, partly resulting from encouragement from marketing and social media focusing on the profile of young female drinkers. In the research undertaken using the Theory of Planned Behavior, Behavioral and Control Beliefs, as well as Attitudes and Perceived Behavioral Controls, played a more predominant role in the Intention to consume beer, notably among women. Regarding the results of E02, young people expressed 1,282 beliefs about drinking beer, including 524 behavioral beliefs [40.9%; 305 instrumental beliefs (e.g., “socialization”, “fun”, “becoming an addiction”, and “health problems”) and 219 experiential beliefs (e.g., “joy”, “pleasure”, “sadness”, and “loneliness”)], 495 normative beliefs [38.6%; 249 injunctive beliefs (e.g., “my friends” and “my family”) and 246 descriptive beliefs (e.g., “young people” and “religious people”)] and 263 control beliefs [20.5%; 140 facilitating beliefs (e.g., “parties” and “need for socialization”) and 123 hindering beliefs (e.g., “health problems” and “presence of family members”)]. Finally, the results of E03 pointed to a low consumption of beer among the young people surveyed, highlighting Attitude as a predominant variable for understanding the Intention, and also the Behavior, of engaging in beer consumption. Perceived Behavioral Control and Subjective Norm showed modest contributions, which most likely reflect the context and culture involved in the act of consuming alcohol in general, and beer in particular. Finally, some directions for future studies were suggested, including the investigation of factors such as “implicit identity” and “habits” on the behavioral intention of young people to consume beer.