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Alcoholism in Island Nations verses Continents


Graham Dixon
Ottawa University
Abstract
This bibliographic essay digs deep into the different drinking habits of people that are on islands
and on the mainland continents. In an ever-growing problem like alcoholism, people need to stop
and ask themselves if there is a true root of it all. In an ever-growing problem like alcoholism,
people need to stop and ask themselves if there is a true root of it all. Does this problem have a
source? Does it have a distinct location? If alcoholism does have a location, where is this
location and why? These are the questions that people need to ask in order to fix a generational
problem like the fight to end alcoholism. This essay t will start off with what alcoholism is, how
it affects people's bodies, how it works in different stages, and then what it does overtime. Next,
information will be stated on alcoholism on continents and what is happening there. Finally,
there will be information stated on alcoholism on island nations and then compare it to actual
continents. The focus on this study is the relationship between alcoholism on island nations and
continents and what kind of information they can give. Or if they in fact it gives any information
that relates to each other at all. This essay contains three different types of sources. The three
sources that were used were academic journals, websites, and a printed book. Each source was
discussed throughout the essay and the reference is found at the beginning on each paragraph to
make it easy to know where the information is coming from before it is read.
Introduction
In an ever-growing problem like alcoholism, people need to stop and ask themselves if
there is a true root of it all. Does this problem have a source? Does it have a distinct location? If
alcoholism does have a location, where is this location and why? These are the questions that

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people need to ask in order to fix a generational problem like the fight to end alcoholism. This
essay t will start off with what alcoholism is, how it affects people's bodies, how it works in
different stages, and then what it does overtime. Next, information will be stated on alcoholism
on continents and what is happening there. Finally, there will be information stated on
alcoholism on island nations and then compare it to actual continents. The focus on this study is
the relationship between alcoholism on island nations and continents and what kind of
information they can give.
What Alcoholism Is
To fully comprehend why alcoholism has the effect that it does, people need to first
understand what alcohol is, how alcoholic tendencies are begun, and how it affects our bodies,
mentally and physically. The Foundation for a Drug- Free Worlds states in the 2016 article The
Truth About Alcohol that alcohol is actually a form of drug that people take that is a form of
depressant. Alcohol makes your bodies functions slow down and can [result] in slurred speech,
unsteady movement, disturbed perceptions and an inability to react quickly to things that are
happening around them. Alcohol is a drug that can makes the consumer no longer think clearly
and clouds their judgment. Now the article also goes on to state how alcohol goes through our
body. The article described it by how after alcohol is put into the human system it is in human's
brains within a matter of minutes due to the alcohol being absorbed through first the stomach and
then the small intestine. It is absorbed through the organ's walls and into the bloodstream by
small blood vessels that also carries some alcohol to the liver. Metabolizing is how the liver tries
to fight out the alcohol from the blood cells; however a significant amount is not fully filtered
out. This article is for general knowledge for anyone who wants to know hard facts about
alcoholism. The article does not show any forward bias in the facts, however the facts are highly
negative to how alcohol can be harmful to humans if too much is consumed at one time without

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any precautions.
The 2015 article Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictive Behavior published by
the Office of Women's Health described alcohol abuse or alcoholism as a disease that is formed
in the brain and can get worse over time until it become life-threatening or death occurs. This
organization states how there are four characteristics of alcoholism that is common to find in
most people and they are physical dependence, craving, tolerance, and loss of control. Physical
dependence can be found if someone who abuses alcohol stops drinking and they seem to get
anxiety, shakiness and sweating, or they withdraw themselves. Craving is whenever people have
the feeling that they have to have a drink to go about their day which can get out of hand and
make it where they are unable to stop, or a loss of control. Now tolerance is when a person
drinks so much and so frequently that they have to keep drinking more and more in order to the
feeling that they desire. This article was published without being peer reviewed; however the
credentials were valid due to the fact that it was a federally funded U.S. department. The article
shows no bias whether it is for or against the consumption of alcohol; it is stating the effects of
drinking until one becomes an alcoholic. General audience and factual information was the
intention for the article.
Now the Alcoholism: Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (Alcohol Use Disorder)" article
that was wrote by Roxanne Dryden- Edwards in 2016 states that there are five stages that people
can recognize if they or someone else is using alcohol is a harmful way. The first stage is a
person making sure that they can get access to alcohol at almost any moment, even if they do not
drink it themselves. The second stage is whenever people start to drink alcohol more frequently
and in larger amounts, or also known as binge drinking. Alcohol abuse's third stage is whenever
an individual starts drinking on a regular basis and they just continue to increase the usage of
alcohol. The fourth stage is whenever people start developing problems in their day-to-day life

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because of the regular consumption of alcohol. Alcohol abuse's fifth, the final, stage is an
individual has to have alcohol to make themselves feel productive and able to do their daily
activities. Roxanne Dryden- Edwards is a researcher for the company on alcoholism specifically
and does not show any bias in her works. This was written for the general audience and it does
not seem to be peer reviewed. Her intentions are to explain the different stages of alcohol abuse.
Now in the article Behavioral Approach System (BAS) Sensitivity Predicts Alcohol
Craving that was published by Ingmar Franken in 2016, Ingmar did a study that was the relation
between the behavioral inhibition and behavioral approach system to cravings of alcohol. His
research came to a conclusion that a high BAS- drive experienced significant more strong
desires, intentions to drink alcohol, and negative reinforcement craving during exposure to
alcohol related cues than subjects with low BAS-drive scores. Ingmar works for the Institute of
Psychology and his article was peer reviewed. The scholarly article is intended to show no bias
to the researchers that come across it.
The Effect of Alcoholism
While all these stages are happening there are a lot of effects on somebodys body that
can be noticed but also unseen. For example Alcoholism: Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse
(Alcohol Use Disorder)" states that there is a physical appearance and signs alone when someone
was became intoxicated from alcohol. Examples would be their breath and even skin smells like
alcohol, their appearance or hygiene has changed, they are more aggressive, or they have
bloodshot or glazed eyeballs. However there are more damaging effects that it can have.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's article Alcohol's Effects on
the Body explains many other ways that your body can physically be affected by alcohol that is
below the surface of individual's own skin. This articles states, and other articles agree, that the
brain is the organ that is most affected by alcohol abuse, because it is the communication

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pathway for the body and the alcohol messes with its ability to function correctly. Another organ
that can be affected with too much consumption of alcohol is the heart. The problems that are
most common are a stroke, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy (when heart muscles droop and
stretch), and arrhythmias (irregular beats of the heart).These problems occur with the heart
especially if an individual drinks too much at one period or they drink too much over a period of
time. However studies have shown that moderate drinking of alcohol can stop the development
of coronary heart disease. It is known by most drinkers the liver is highly affected by alcohol
abuse, but individuals not usually know that even the pancreas is in harms away when too much
alcohol has been drank. When alcohol is drunk the individual's pancreas can get pancreatitis
from the substance that is produced that is toxic. Even full body systems can have a negative
affect whenever to much drinking is involved, for intense the immune system. The way that it is
affected by alcohol is that it just simply weakens your system. Whenever this happens the
drinker body is more prone to catching diseases. This is also true whenever people drink too
much alcohol at one time, in those cases the ability to fight off infections can we weakened for
even 24 hours. This article has international federal research, so I believe that is does not show
any bias to it. The audience is for people who are doing research international alcohol
consumption.
Alcoholism in Continents
The questioned that was stated for the paper was how alcoholism is on continents verses
islands. In the 2016 article Alcohol Abuse in Scotland AlcoholRehab.com states that on the
continent of Scotland people tend to drink heavier the people that live in the rest of the UK. The
article gives examples of why there are so many different factors that play into the alcohol abuse
found in that area. One reason that was stated was alcohol in Scotland does not cost a lot of
money; therefore more people are able to drink for a lower cost. The low-costing alcohol caused

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the heavy amount of drinking in the poor around the 19th century, people in low-income
situations decided to drink to help them deal with their brutal lives. It was also stated that during
the winter months it was simply something for people to do, they were able to socialize and not
think about bad weather. A habit that is affects Scot's in a significant way is heavy binge
drinking. It is also stated in the article that alcohol has been actually safer to consume over the
water that they usually would drink. Due to the fact that alcohol has to be boiled and water does
not need boil to drink, alcohol does not have as much bacteria and is not polluted like water that
is around that area. People in Scotland over the age of 16 are drinking alcohol in major amounts.
Men that drink alcohol is at the a very high rate of 93%, while women are also at a high
percentage of 87%. Compared to American's legal drinking age of 21, Scotland's drinking age of
18 seems low, however there is even laws set that they can legally drink at a younger age of a
couple years. Even with the drinking age being considerably low to America, they still face
underage drinking. In fact underage drinking is a problem, they are also drinking more underage
then they were in the past. The worry of that is alcohol can interfere with developing
adolescents. Also drinking at young ages can cause individuals to becoming more likely to
become alcoholics.
One reason that any individual, not just Scot's, starts drinking younger can be found in
the British Journal of Addiction from 1987 using the article "Reasons For Drinking And Alcohol
Use In Young Adults At High Risk And At Low Risk For Alcoholism." It states that a reason that
individuals are starting to drink at a younger age is because of their attitudes towards the idea
drinking itself. How the article "Effects Of -Tetrahydrocannabinol In Individuals With A
Familial Vulnerability To Alcoholism." that was published by Psychopharmacology in 2014
stated that history of alcoholism in an individuals family is about 50% of the factors of whether
or not that individual will become an alcoholic as well. Both of these articles were a peer

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reviewed article that is attended for scholarly audiences. The two articles show no bias and were
written to explain the results found.
Alcoholism on Islands
Some islanders are less likely to drink alcohol then many other groups and that is the case
for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. However for those groups also have high rates
of alcohol abuse stated the Office on Women's Health in their article Alcoholism and Drug
Abuse article that was posted in 2010. These islanders have a strict correlation to their habits of
binge drinking and being alcohol dependent and a few of their main health crisis, which include
violence, mental health, and injuries. The article also states that women's heavy drinking is the
consumption of one alcoholic beverage a day on an average. Four or more alcoholic drinks in the
same time frame could be considered binge drinking for women. This article, similar to the
article that was published by the same group, was also published without being peer reviewed.
The credentials were valid due to the fact that it was still a federally funded U.S. department.
The journal article "Patterns Of Alcohol Consumption In The Seychelles Islands (Indian
Ocean)" that was wrote in 1999 by Perdrix is about alcoholism in the Seychelles. The study that
was done was with a group of random 1067 25-64 year old and their consumption of beer. It was
concluded that about half of men were regular drinkers, however only 6% of women were
regular drinkers. It was also found that only about 53% of beer that is consumed was bought
from a store, most beer is home-brewed. It concluded that men and women drink very differently
in that country. Also it states that alcohol intake could have a direct association with bloodpressure, cholesterol levels, and smoking. However it does not have a have anything to do with
body mass and the age of a person.
In the 2016 memoir The Outrun, Amy Liptrot explains her own life story of getting
addicted to alcohol and dealing with in on the Orkney Islands, small group of islands off the

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northern coast of Scotland. She writes about her father who had a problem with alcoholism and
mental health. She believes that the horrible mental health problems her father had caused him to
become an alcoholic. Then she goes on to explain that she believes that she is following in her
fathers habits. Her battle with alcoholism on the islands was hard, because the majority of the
people on the islands would be considered alcoholics. However the difference between them was
they are all native to the islands, so alcoholism isn't anything new to them. Whereas for her, she
is not from the island so the only alcoholic that was in her family is her father.
Alcoholism in Continents vs. Island Nations
That studies and articles that have been found and put throughout this essay, have seemed
to come back to show that there is no direct relationship between alcoholism on island nations
and continents that make them different. Locating information on alcohol consumption and
alcohol abuse on islands was difficult to do. A possible reasoning might be that there is simply
not much research done on islands that are part of a bigger continent. Other researchers might
add the island's information into the mainlands, rather than compare the data.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism gives counter- points to the research
done with most cases when it has to do with alcohol in their article called "International
Comparisons of Alcohol Consumption. It states that there are two types of cultures, the wet and
the dry. Now wet cultures have alcohol worked into their daily lives and it is very acceptable to
drink, while in dry cultures alcohol is not as acceptable to drink so they do not have alcoholic
beverages in their daily lives. This is pointed out because if a researcher just states how many
alcoholic beverages a couple has in the course of a month in a wet and dry culture, the wet
culture will most likely seem as a culture that is full of alcoholics. Their number will be higher,
even though their tolerance for alcohol is probably higher. Another point that there are varieties
of standard drink sizes and strengths, therefore researchers should not just state how many drinks

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they have but convert in in some way to be a universal standardized cup of alcohol.
Conclusion
In conclusion there may be a direct relationship between alcoholism on island nations and
continents; however my research does not show any. It does show how alcoholism and alcohol abuse is
a very serious matter that can affect everyone all over the world with the same devastating effects on
the human body. Research dealing with alcoholism should be more carefully done, false or wrong
information could be very easily found on accident if researchers do not take careful notes on the
information of alcohol itself.

Work Cited
"Alcohol Abuse in Scotland." Alcoholrehab.com. Alcoholrehab.com. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.
"Alcohol's Effects on the Body." Alcohol's Effects on the Body. National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
"Alcoholism: Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (Alcohol Use Disorder)." MedicineNet. Roxanne

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Dryden-Edwards. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
"Alcoholism and Drug Abuse" Minority Women's Health. Office of Women's Health. 18 May
2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.
"Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictive Behavior." Mental Health. Office of Women's
Health. 13 Aug. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Franken, Ignmar Ha. "Behavioral Approach System (BAS) Sensitivity Predicts Alcohol
Craving." ResearchGate. ResearchGate.net, 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
Hesselbrock, Victor. M. O'Brien, James. Weinstein, Marlynn. Carter-Menendez, Nancy. "Reasons
For Drinking And Alcohol Use In Young Adults At High Risk And At Low Risk For
Alcoholism." British Journal Of Addiction 82.12 (1987): 1335-1339. Psychology and
Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
"International Comparisons of Alcohol Consumption." International Comparisons of Alcohol
Consumption. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
Liptrot, Amy. The Outrun. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2016. Print.
Perdrix, J, et al. "Patterns Of Alcohol Consumption In The Seychelles Islands (Indian Ocean)."
Alcohol And Alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordsh
Ranganathan, Mohini Sewell, R. Carbuto, Michelle Elander, Jacqueline Schnakenberg, Ashley
Radhakrishnan, Rajiv Pittman, Brian D'Souza, Deepak. "Effects Of Tetrahydrocannabinol In Individuals With A Familial Vulnerability To Alcoholism."
Psychopharmacology 231.12 (2014): 2385-2393. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
Collection. Web.12 Mar. 2016.
What Is Alcohol? Is Alcohol a Drug? Alcohol Content - Drug-Free World." The Truth About
Alcohol. Foundation for a Drug-Free World. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

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