How does social class shape women's alcohol stockpiling during COVID-19?: A qualitative study in South Australia during the 2020 lockdown

Ward, Paul; Foley, Kristen; Meyer, Samantha B.; Wilson, Carlene; Warin, Megan; Miller, Emma R.; Olver, Ian; Thomas, Jessica A.; Batchelor, Samantha; Lunnay, Belinda

doi:10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100080

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Research studies have provided insight into the important role of alcohol in midlife women’s lives: Alcohol consumption is linked with processes of social identity formation, tied to pleasure, coping and self‐care, sociability and connection (Kersey et al., 2021) and the locations and contexts of drinking, women’s logics for drinking, how they manage alcohol‐related risks and their embodied drinking experiences are known (Emslie et al., 2012, 2015; Foley et al., 2021; Lyons et al., 2014; Wright et al., 2022). Our recent research adds nuance to these understandings through the lens of social class, which shapes women’s alcohol consumption and stockpiling behaviours (Miller et al., 2021), women’s relationships with alcohol (Lunnay et al., 2022; Ward, Foley, Meyer, Wilson, Warin, Miller, et al, 2022), the social and emotional benefits of drinking (Lunnay, Foley et al., 2021, Lunnay, Toson et al., 2021), its value for achieving wellness (Ward, Foley, Meyer, Wilson, Warin, Batchelor, et al., 2022) and the variations in women’s trust in information on alcohol‐related breast cancer risk (Meyer et al., 2022).…”

Section: The Evidence On Alcohol and Breast Cancer In Mid‐life Womenmentioning

confidence: 96%

Extending the sociology of candidacy: Bourdieu’s relational social class and mid‐life women’s perceptions of alcohol‐related breast cancer risk

Batchelor

Lunnay

Macdonald

et al. 2023

Sociology Health & Illness

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Alcohol is a modifiable breast cancer risk, increasing risk in a dose‐dependent manner. Mid‐life women (aged 45–64 years) consume alcohol at higher rates than younger women and this, combined with age, make them a high‐risk group for breast cancer. This critical public health problem has a seemingly obvious solution (reduce drinking); however, women do not necessarily know alcohol causes breast cancer, and if they do, reducing consumption is not always possible, or desirable. To innovate public health responses, we employ an interpretative sociological framework ‘candidacy’ to understand women’s perspectives on breast cancer risk relative to alcohol consumption and their social class. Drawing on 50 interviews with Australian mid‐life women, our findings reveal the socio‐structural determinants of ‘candidacy’, that mean modifying alcohol consumption for breast cancer prevention is impacted by social class. Utilising Bourdieu’s relational capitals, our interpretations show how social class shapes women’s ascriptions and enactments of breast cancer candidacy. We offer an important theoretical extension to ‘candidacy’ by demonstrating more or less fluidity in women’s assessment of breast cancer risk according to their agency to adopt breast cancer prevention messages. Understanding the social class possibilities and limitations in women’s perceptions of breast cancer risk provides a new opportunity to reduce inequities in breast cancer incidence.

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Section: The Evidence On Alcohol and Breast Cancer In Mid‐life Womenmentioning

confidence: 96%

Extending the sociology of candidacy: Bourdieu’s relational social class and mid‐life women’s perceptions of alcohol‐related breast cancer risk

Batchelor

Lunnay

Macdonald

et al. 2023

Sociology Health & Illness

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“…In the 2020s, women are drinking more alcohol than previous generations of women in this stage of life, and more than any other age group currently, and the reasons for this lie in research which indicates consumption provides some women with a form of stress-relief [ 7 ] and self-care [ 8 , 9 , 10 ] that is socially acceptable [ 11 , 12 ] and can function as a tool to promote wellness, sometimes within a limited range of resources; and women’s options diminish as they experience more social disadvantage [ 13 ]. Australian women’s reasons for alcohol consumption are also differentiated on the basis of social class [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Of particular relevance to this study is that affluent women have more agentic ‘relationships’ with alcohol, whereas there is a tendency for less control over alcohol-related decisions for women living with less privilege.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sober Curiosity: A Qualitative Study Exploring Women’s Preparedness to Reduce Alcohol by Social Class

Lunnay

Nicholls

Pennay

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Background: Urgent action is required to identify socially acceptable alcohol reduction options for heavy-drinking midlife Australian women. This study represents innovation in public health research to explore how current trends in popular wellness culture toward ‘sober curiosity’ (i.e., an interest in what reducing alcohol consumption would or could be like) and normalising non-drinking could increase women’s preparedness to reduce alcohol consumption. Methods: Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 27 midlife Australian women (aged 45–64) living in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in different social class groups (working, middle and affluent-class) to explore their perceptions of sober curiosity. Results: Women were unequally distributed across social-classes and accordingly the social-class analysis considered proportionally the volume of data at particular codes. Regardless, social-class patterns in women’s preparedness to reduce alcohol consumption were generated through data analysis. Affluent women’s preparedness to reduce alcohol consumption stemmed from a desire for self-regulation and to retain control; middle-class women’s preparedness to reduce alcohol was part of performing civility and respectability and working-class women’s preparedness to reduce alcohol was highly challenging. Options are provided for alcohol reduction targeting the social contexts of consumption (the things that lead midlife women to feel prepared to reduce drinking) according to levels of disadvantage. Conclusion: Our findings reinstate the importance of recognising social class in public health disease prevention; validating that socially determined factors which shape daily living also shape health outcomes and this results in inequities for women in the lowest class positions to reduce alcohol and related risks.

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Through the wine glass: How biographical midlife transitions and women's affective interpretations interact with alcohol consumption

Lunnay

Seymour

Foley

et al. 2023

International Journal of Drug Policy

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How does social class shape women's alcohol stockpiling during COVID-19?: A qualitative study in South Australia during the 2020 lockdown

Cited by 6 publications

References 58 publications

Extending the sociology of candidacy: Bourdieu’s relational social class and mid‐life women’s perceptions of alcohol‐related breast cancer risk

Extending the sociology of candidacy: Bourdieu’s relational social class and mid‐life women’s perceptions of alcohol‐related breast cancer risk

Sober Curiosity: A Qualitative Study Exploring Women’s Preparedness to Reduce Alcohol by Social Class

Through the wine glass: How biographical midlife transitions and women's affective interpretations interact with alcohol consumption

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