The educational potential of alcohol-related flushing among Chinese young people

Authors

Ian M. Newman, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Duane F. Shell, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Zhaoqing Huang, University of Southern CaliforniaFollow
Ling Qian, Chinese Center for Health Education, Ministry of Health, BeijingFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2015

Citation

Drugs Education, Prevention and Policy, 2015; 22(1): 52–59; doi: 10.3109/09687637.2014.979764

Comments

Copyright (c) 2014 Ian M. Newman, Duane F. Shell, Zhaoqing Huang, and Ling Qian.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License

Abstract

Aim: This paper describes Chinese university students’ understanding of the meaning of the alcohol-related flushing response and how they reacted to their own and someone else’s flushing in a group drinking situation. Method: The researcher surveyed 530 Chinese university students about their understanding of flushing and their perception of how people respond to a person who visibly flushes while drinking alcohol. Findings: Most students did not know about the physiological cause of flushing. There were significant gender differences in both reactions to and perception of responses to a person who flushes. There was no direct relationship between flushing and drinking behaviour. Conclusions: This description of flushing behaviour and responses to a flushing person is discussed in terms of educational opportunities to change behaviours that could reduce the cancer related risks of this visibly at-risk group.