Final Draft

Exploring the effects of alcohol in low socioeconomic families in India. 

This research project will aim to explore the ways in which alcohol plays a role in how it affects low socioeconomic families in India. Due to the lack of awareness and resources, many are suffering from the negative consequences of consuming alcohol. This research will be conducted through interviews and surveys to see what the causes are of alcohol consumption. 

I wanted to start this research by first talking about the huge population of people in India that live in slums. We oftentimes neglect that those people have years of oppression, which is pushing them back from making progress. Nonetheless, alcohol is a lethal drug that once consumed in large amounts it can cause physiological damage to the body, as well as a change to human behavior. The change in human behavior is a key point that we cannot overlook because the families of those with someone suffering from alcohol abuse have to go through a lot. “In a service center for women, they found that 40% of abuse of women occurs as a result of alcohol abuse. Alcohol remains among the top five reasons for family problems. Women are forced to find the money for their husbands and are abused if they fail” (Helsingfors, 2016). It is essential that we try to understand the role that this plays on others by alcohol abuse, Try to understand this and see how we can implement any policies for taking initiative. We do not have much analysis on the others of the cases and whether they are being reported or not, or how to deal with it. In fact, many low-income countries such as Sri Lanka have enacted comprehensive child protection legislation and established national institutions to address child protection issues. We cant make a change by only focusing on the individual, it is essential that we focus on the others, to see a change. Additionally, drinking alcohol is causing a huge increase in mortality vs morbidity, the risk of death, and the rate of a disease. It is vital that we understand why these rates of consumption of alcohol are increasing.  What can we do to stop this social pathology? We need a better understanding of the chronic role that alcohol plays on the body. Moreover, where do the risks come from? We can say it comes from the patterns and how much is being consumed. Some further reasons as to why people drink can be noted as maintaining social norms, urbanization, alcohol is more available, greater marketing skills, lack of awareness, and more trading of alcohol overseas. India has a huge population of people that are poor and live in slums. They have low living conditions and socioeconomic status so they are often the ones who have to be victims of the negative ramifications of alcohol. Due to the lack of awareness and neglect for their health, they often oversee the fact that they experience blackouts, get injured from alcohol-related activity, and do not have a concern about other people. Alcohol dependence now becomes an issue because once they are stopped from drinking alcohol they experience withdrawal reactions, the body also develops a higher tolerance for alcohol. This is now a mix of behavioral, cognitive, and phsyciological phenomena.  On the same token, it is vital to look at the social and economic aspects of its consumption. Semi-skilled and unskilled workers were found to be at a greater risk for alcoholism compared to professional workers. It must be noted that if these workers have their drinking habits then they can cause hindrance int heir family’s economics. “High levels of drinking among the younger generation clearly depicts the transition in the Indian “wet culture” (Santanu, 2012).

 This project seeks to qualitatively aim at how the people that live in these small communities view alcohol and ask further questions during interviews to better understand. To further this research, I will interview a small community in Kolkata and develop a questionnaire to see what patterns can be found.  Some questions asked will be:  why they drink, who do they drink with, what time do they drink, what kind of alcohol do they drink, where do they drink, and if they have any apprehension about drinking. This can help identify how severe the drinking problem is and what kind of drinker they are. Whether they are a current drinker, hazardous drinker, harmful use, alcohol dependence, former drinker, lifetime abstainer, or standard drinker. 

    When families try to help their loved ones often times they are not able to because of the lack of resources, care, and access. Young people are left volatile which the risk of depression taking over them. Also, the stigma behind alcohol abuse has to change. We as a community need to become more compassionate to help these people get access to treatment. Some people become in denial because they don’t want to ruin their reputation or a certain image that they hold by being seen as someone who does not hold any morals or values. We need to be more considerate in considering how will this affect the young children who are seeing their family members going through this? 

In retrospect, we will need preventive strategies, law enforcement, shops selling alcohol should be open from a certain time only, regulations on alcoholic beverages, and legal prohibitions. There is so much work that needs to be done to better analyze this complex subject and with time we can understand how to help not only the victims but to help the families and the communities.   

References cited

Santanu Ghosh, Amrita Samanta, and Shuvankar Mukherjee (2012). Patterns of Alcohol Consumption among Male Adults at a Slum in Kolkata, India. Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition; London Vol. 30, Iss. 1.

Laslett, Anne-Marie; Waleewong, Orratai; Obot, Isidore; Benegal, Vivek; Hettige, Siri; et al (2016) Scoping response system management of alcohol’s harm to others in lower-middle-income countries. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs; Helsingfors Vol. 33, Iss. 5-6. 

SRINATH RAMAMURTHY (2017). Alcohol Use, Abuse, and its Psychosocial and Economic Impact in India. Journal of Social Research & Policy, Vol. 8, Issue 1, July 2017.

1st Draft

Exploring the effects of alcohol in low socioeconomic families in India. 

This research project will aim to explore the ways in which alcohol plays a role in how it affects low socioeconomic families in India. Due to the lack of awareness and resources, many are suffering from the negative consequences of consuming alcohol. This research will be conducted through interviews and surveys to see what the causes are of alcohol consumption. 

I wanted to start this research by first talking about the huge population of people in India that live in slums. We oftentimes neglect that those people have years of oppression, which is pushing them back from making progress. Nonetheless, alcohol is a lethal drug that once consumed in large amounts it can cause physiological damage to the body, as well as a change to human behavior. The change in human behavior is a key point that we cannot overlook because the families of those with someone suffering from alcohol abuse have to go through a lot. “In a service center for women, they found that 40% of abuse of women occurs as a result of alcohol abuse. Alcohol remains among the top five reasons for family problems. Women are forced to find the money for their husbands and are abused if they fail” (Helsingfors, 2016). It is essential that we try to understand the role that this plays on others by alcohol abuse, Try to understand this and see how we can implement any policies for taking initiative. We do not have much analysis on the others of the cases and whether they are being reported or not, or how to deal with it. In fact, many low-income countries such as Sri Lanka have enacted comprehensive child protection legislation and established national institutions to address child protection issues. We cant make a change by only focusing on the individual, it is essential that we focus on the others, to see a change. Additionally, drinking alcohol is causing a huge increase in mortality vs morbidity, the risk of death, and the rate of a disease. It is vital that we understand why these rates of consumption of alcohol are increasing.  What can we do to stop this social pathology? We need a better understanding of the chronic role that alcohol plays on the body. Moreover, where do the risks come from? We can say it comes from the patterns and how much is being consumed. Some further reasons as to why people drink can be noted as maintaining social norms, urbanization, alcohol is more available, greater marketing skills, lack of awareness, and more trading of alcohol overseas. India has a huge population of people that are poor and live in slums. They have low living conditions and socioeconomic status so they are often the ones who have to be victims of the negative ramifications of alcohol. Due to the lack of awareness and neglect for their health, they often oversee the fact that they experience blackouts, get injured from alcohol-related activity, and do not have a concern about other people. Alcohol dependence now becomes an issue because once they are stopped from drinking alcohol they experience withdrawal reactions, the body also develops a higher tolerance for alcohol. This is now a mix of behavioral, cognitive, and phsyciological phenomena.  On the same token, it is vital to look at the social and economic aspects of its consumption. Semi-skilled and unskilled workers were found to be at a greater risk for alcoholism compared to professional workers. It must be noted that if these workers have their drinking habits then they can cause hindrance int heir family’s economics. “High levels of drinking among the younger generation clearly depicts the transition in the Indian “wet culture” (Santanu, 2012).

 This project seeks to qualitatively aim at how the people that live in these small communities view alcohol and ask further questions during interviews to better understand. To further this research, I will interview a small community in Kolkata.       

References cited 

Santanu Ghosh , Amrita Samanta , and Shuvankar Mukherjee (2012). Patterns of Alcohol Consumption among Male Adults at a Slum in Kolkata, India. Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition; London Vol. 30, Iss. 1.

Laslett, Anne-Marie; Waleewong, Orratai; Obot, Isidore; Benegal, Vivek; Hettige, Siri; et al (2016) Scoping response system management of alcohol’s harm to others in lower-middle-income countries. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs; Helsingfors Vol. 33, Iss. 5-6. 

SRINATH RAMAMURTHY (2017). Alcohol Use, Abuse, and its Psychosocial and Economic Impact in India. Journal of Social Research & Policy, Vol. 8, Issue 1, July 2017.

Process for Writing Research Paper

Outline for Research Outline

Research Proposal Outline Use last week’s lecture/the Google Slide presentation to remind you of what each section is. 

1. THE PROBLEM: What is the problem you are researching: In this research project I am aiming to explore the ways in which alcoholism affects poor young and colored individuals. 

What is your primary research question? Exploring the effects of alcoholism in young people with low socioeconomic status in India. 

What are the secondary research questions? Some secondary research questions I have from this topic would be… How does this affect the families of those who are trying to help someone with alcohol abuse? What role does culture play in this? What can be done to help those people? 

2. BACKGROUND: What elements do you need to include the background and context of your research problem? Some elements that I need to include in my background would be information about the Indian culture, history of alcohol, and demographic information about alcohol in India and how it affects the family and victims of alcohol abuse. 

Choose 3 possible sources to draw from in this section, and write what you will get from those sources. 

Source 1: The neurocognitive effects of alcohol on adolescents and college students

 Source 2:The effects of social and health consequences on the drinking cognitions and behaviors of young people 

Source 3:  Alcohol consumption amongst young adults living in a low socioeconomic community in Cape Town.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW: Here is where you introduce existing research on your topic that you build on. Choose and list 3 possible sources to draw from in this section, what information they will provide, and how you hope to build on their offerings: 

Source 1:  Domestic violence and its determinants among 15–49-year-old women in a rural block in South India

Source 2: Alcohol Use, Abuse and its Psychosocial and Economic Impact in India 

Source 3:Scoping response system management of alcohol’s harm to others in lower-middle-income countries

 4. OBJECTIVES: What is your stance/argument? What are you hoping to discover or prove by engaging this research?

My stance is that alcohol is detrimental for the body as we all know and it is even more so for young individuals that have a low socioeconomic status in India. I am hoping to discover new ways to help people become more aware or implement changes. 

 5. METHODS: How will the research be conducted? What quantitative (data, surveys) and qualitative methods (observation, interview, focus groups, etc.) will you engage to get original research that no one else has? Why will those methods work best for your subculture?

I will conduct interviews and surveys to better understand the situation of the poor people and see what the common causes are to drinking alcohol. 

 6. CONCLUSION: Take notes on the conclusion here.

Bring back my key point about the effects of alcohol and the main causes of why people drink it. As well as how it affects the families and loved ones.

Summary of Research Outline

This research paper was a difficult process for me as I never enjoyed reading research papers and analyzing them. This assignment challenged me in many ways to make sure that I had spent enough time to think of a topic that was meaningful to me. I had chosen to write about alcoholism in India and how this affects people that have low socioeconomic status. Once I found the topic I became interested in making sure I found research articles that would help support my thesis. I remember spending one to two days just reading and annotating my research articles. These notes that I took helped make the process for actually writing much easier. During this time it was also a hard transition from campus to online classes. But with the support of my teacher and peers I was able to make it through and complete the assignment. Citing and making sure that I had a good analysis was challenging but having drafted and an outline helped me pinpoint where I needed more work.