Alcohol-Consumption-Behaviours-and-Attitudes-in-Vietnam-An-Exploratory-Analysis

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235329674Alcohol Consumption Behaviours and Attitudes in Vietnam: An Explora

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235329674

Alcohol Consumption Behaviours and Attitudes in Vietnam: An Exploratory Analysis

Conference Paper · July 2010

CITATIONS

4

READS

3,106

1 author:

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Social Marketing View project

Validation in research View project

Lukas Parker

RMIT University

96PUBLICATIONS    365CITATIONS    

SEE PROFILE

Alcohol Consumption Behaviours and Attitudes in Vietnam: An Exploratory Analysis

Centre for Communication and Design RMIT International University Vietnam

702 Nguyen Van Linh Boulevard Tan Phong Ward, District 7

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Ph.: +84 914 626 296

1 Dr Lukas Parker’s teaching interests centre on introductory marketing, marketing communications, communications research and consumer behaviour Lukas has been working in Vietnam for four years and currently lectures in advertising and communications research in the Bachelor of Communications degree program at RMIT University’s Ho Chi Minh City campus Lukas’s research has centred on relationship marketing with a focus on the Australian retail banking industry of which he has a number of papers published Recently his research interests have turned to social marketing and he has published a number of papers on social marketing in practice in Vietnam Lukas has also worked as social marketing practitioner on rural water supply and sanitation project in the Mekong delta in Vietnam

Introduction

Alcohol-related problems have long been recognised as a major public health problem in the western world, but more recently increased attention has been paid to the role of alcohol as a

public health problem in developing countries including Vietnam (Giang et al., 2008) Over

recent years Vietnam has experienced sustained economic growth This has led to an increase

in the overall standard of living for the broader community, and with that an increase in the

purchase and consumption of alcohol (Giang et al., 2008; Jernigan, 2001; Luong, 2009; Rehm et al., 2003) The purpose of this study is to provide a current state-of-play of available

research into alcohol consumption behaviours and attitudes in Vietnam, with a view to uncovering the key issues and to posit possible future directions for research in this field Existing research into alcohol in Vietnam can be grouped under three main issues: excess alcohol consumption, alcohol as a contributing factor to risky sexual activity and alcohol as a contributing factor to risky driving behaviour

The Current Situation

Drinking is learned behaviour that falls within the prescribed social norm of a cultural group

(McCrady, 2004) Nh u, or informal social drinking, is commonplace in Vietnam where

alcohol is used to celebrate events, to socialise, to drown sorrows and to facilitate business

An individual’s behaviour is rewarded for engaging in group activities such as social drinking, because collective social functions are encouraged and expected in Vietnam (Giang

et al., 2008; Kaljee et al., 2005; Tran, 2008) Whilst survey data provided to the World

Health Organization suggests that initiation of alcohol use is ‘rare’ among Vietnamese

adolescents (Jernigan, 2001), Kaljee et al (2005) found that peer pressure is an important

factor with adolescent Vietnamese boys as they tried to ‘prove their manhood’ In their study

of a rural district in northern Vietnam, Giang et al (2008) found that 87.3 percent of men and

10.2 percent of women had used alcohol in the previous year Drinking is predominantly a male activity, however female drinking is beginning to become more common particularly in the major cities The World Health Organization (2004a) identified that 10.2 percent of Vietnamese males could be classed as heavy episodic drinkers, on top of that 8.1 percent of males 18-24 years old were classed as heavy episodic drinkers meaning they consumed five

or more standard drinks in one sitting at least once a week

At this stage there is very little information regarding alcohol consumption patterns and

contexts in Vietnam, particularly concerning adolescents and young adults (Tho et al., 2007) Recent studies including Giang et al (2008) and Tran (2008) have provided some strong

foundation data into alcohol usage, however their research largely focuses on alcohol as a contributing factor to issues such as risky sexual behaviour, rather than focusing their investigations on the actual drinking attitudes and behaviours themselves In a study of university students in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s two biggest cities, 62 percent

of females and 70 percent of males felt that alcohol “facilitates” casual sex (Brown et al.,

2001) In another study nearly 70 percent of those who had engaged in oral, anal or vaginal

sex also reported drinking (Kaljee et al., 2005) Tho et al (2007) in their study of adolescents

and young adults in Nha Trang (a major city) found that male youths were 50 times more likely than non-drinkers to have sex, while female youths who drank were three times more likely than female non-drinkers to have sex Moreover, nearly 40 percent of male youths who drank did not use a condom during their most recent sexual activity, compared to 4.8 percent

of non-drinkers (Tho et al., 2007) Often these risky behaviours occur with commercial sex workers, sex with workers at cafes and bia ôm (“beers and hugs”, a bar where men are served beer and sexual services) (Kaljee et al., 2005)

An issue yet to gain currency in Vietnam is that of alcohol and its relationship to road accidents and risky driving behaviour For a country where there are 68.6 motorbikes for every 100 households and 109.1 motorbikes for every 100 urban households (General Statistics Office, 2006) this is a salient issue The motorcycle is the main form of transportation for the majority of the population in Vietnam and public transport is rare outside the main cities For many Vietnamese the motorbike is the cheapest and the most convenient means to get home after an evening of drinking

Vietnam has drink driving laws (World Health Organization, 2009), which were tightened to

a maximum blood alcohol concentration level of 0.05g/dl for drivers (including motorbike riders) on 1 July 2009 (Road Traffic Law, 2008) However the World Health Organization (2009) rated the enforcement of these laws as 3 out of 10, where 0 is not effective and 10 is highly effective Random breath testing is uncommon in Vietnam (World Health Organization 2004b), moreover the laws are not clearly understood by many citizens The most recent available statistics for road traffic deaths show that 34 percent involved alcohol (Forensic Medicine data, 2001, cited in World Health Organization, 2009) There have been limited informed educational efforts in Vietnam with regard to alcohol consumption (Kaljee

et al., 2005) resulting in little information about responsible alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in the population (Giang et al., 2005, 2008) At present there is little in the way of

public education about responsible drinking behaviour

Competing against these efforts there is little in the way of restrictions of alcohol advertising promotion in Vietnam The advertising of spirits are banned on national television and radio, but there are little or no restrictions for the advertising of beer and wine on television and radio, print media and billboards (World Health Organization, 2004b) These advertising and promotions restrictions are also only partially enforced (World Health Organization, 2004b)

Conclusions and Recommendations

The majority of the recent literature focuses on alcohol consumption as a contributing factor (amongst others) to risky sexual behavior To this point little of the publicly available research has focused on the broader issues and implications related to alcohol consumption, including drink driving, domestic violence and health implications Before such issues can be addressed, more needs to be known about consumer attitudes, latent and manifest motives and behaviours related to consumption of alcohol in Vietnam This paper proposes that a broader study needs to be undertaken into drinker attitudes and behaviour to alcohol consumption, with a view to extending research towards identifying priority alcohol-related problem areas Considering the existing studies on youth attitudes alcohol in Vietnam, it is recommended that a study on youth attitudes to drink driving be undertaken in future research

References

Brown, A.D., Jejeebhoy, S.J., Shah, I., Yount, K.M., 2001 Sexual relations among young people in developing countries: evidence from WHO case studies Department of Reproductive Health and Research, Family and Community Health, World Health Organization, Geneva

General Statistics Office, 2006 K t Qu Kh o Sát M c S ng H Gia ình N m 2006 (Result

of the Survey on Household Living Standards 2006), Nhà Xu t B n Th ng Kê (Statistics Publishing House), Ha Noi

Giang, K.B., Allebeck, P., Spak, F., Minh, H.V., Dzung, T.V., 2008 Alcohol Use and Alcohol Consumption-Related Problems in Rural Vietnam: An Epidemiological Survey Using AUDIT Substance Use & Misuse 43, 481-495

Giang, K.B., Spak, F., Dzung, T.V., Allebeck, P., 2005 The use of AUDIT to Assess Level

of Alcohol Problems in Rural Vietnam Alcohol & Alcoholism 40(6), 578-583

Jernigan, D.H., 2001 Global Status Report: Alcohol and Young People WHO, Geneva Kaljee, L.M., Genberg, B.L., Minh, T.T., Tho, L.H., Thoa, L.T.K., Stanton, B., 2005 Alcohol use an HIV risk behaviors among rural adolescents in Khanh Hoa Province Viet Nam Health Education Research 20(1), 71-80

Luong, H.V., 2009 H Chí Minh City: Economic Growth, Migration, and Urbanization In: Luong, H.V (Ed.), Urbanization, Migration and Poverty in a Vietnamese Metropolis: Ho Chi Minh City in Comparative Perspectives National University of Singapore Press, Singapore,

pp 31-49

McCrady, B.S., 2004 To Have But One True Friend: Implications for Practice of Research

on Alcohol Use Disorders and Social Networks Journal of Addictive Behaviors 18(2),

113-121

Rehm, J., Rehn, N., Room, R., Monteiro, M., Gmel, G., Jernigan, D., Frick, U., 2003 The Global Distribution of Average Consumption and Patterns of Drinking European Addiction Research 9, 147-156

Road Traffic Law, 2008 Law No: 23/2008/QH12 National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, term XII, session 4, approved 13 November 2008

Tho, L.H , Singhasivanon, P., Kaewkungwai, J, Kaljee, L.M and Charoenkul, C., 2007 Sexual Behaviors of Alcohol Drinkers and Non-Drinkers among Adolescents and Young Adults in Nha Trang, Vietnam Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health 38(1), 152-160

Tran, P.D., 2008 Sociocultural Perceptions and Patterns of Cigarette and Alcohol Use among College Students in Vietnam Asian Social Work and Policy Review 2, 149-158

World Health Organization, 2004a Global Status Report on Alcohol World Health

Page | 147

Organization: Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Geneva

World Health Organization, 2004b Global Status Report: Alcohol Policy World Health Organization: Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Geneva

World Health Organization, 2009 Global Status Report on Road Safety: Time for Action.World Health Organization, Geneva