A Focus on Alcohol in Youth Health and Comfort Promotion Programmes

Objective. An analysis of the essential perspectives that will integrate the consumption of alcohol into the promotion of the concept of well being and health and yet serve as a premise for reducing the risk of alcohol abuse. Method. To analyse the meaning of risk and the paradoxes associated with its prevention, the meaning of the sense of "health" and how the concept is constructed, the meaning of "health promotion strategy" as indicated by international consensus and its implementation by the institutions, the connotations linked to the "pursuit of well being" inherent in these strategies. Results. Analysis has indicated that the phenomena of alcohol abuse be inserted in a context of a balanced approach to the pursuit of well being particularly amongst adolescents recognizing that it has a determining value in contributing to the satisfaction of their needs at an individual, family and collective level. For High Schools the disaggregation of the notions of health education acquire a single vision. Only the satisfaction of their needs will allow adolescents to overcome their sensations of insecurity and desperation instead of seeking satisfaction in excessive or anti-social behavior through the excessive consumption of alcohol, which in Western society is inextricably associated with manifestations of joyful celebration.

Keywords: Alcohol, alcoholism, risk, youth, prevention, health promotion

Maria Antonia Modolo, A Focus on Alcohol in Youth Health and Comfort Promotion Programmes in "SALUTE E SOCIETÀ" suppl. En. 3/2010, pp 136-153, DOI: 10.3280/SES2010-SU3009-ing