A qualitative investigation of the connections between changes in women’s alcohol consumption and their participation in heavy drinking professions

Background:

Women’s alcohol consumption has increased substantially over recent decades in the United Kingdom and other high-income countries. At the same time, women have entered in larger numbers into professions previously dominated by men, such as journalism, law and finance. The cultural practices of these professions have historically involved heavy drinking but we have a limited understanding of how women’s entry into them has interacted with their increased drinking. Investigating how women experience and negotiate the drinking cultures of different professions can therefore provide us with a stronger understanding of the underlying practices that contribute to the rise in women’s drinking and how this trend might be mitigated.

This project sits within a set of studies undertaken by the University of Sheffield’s Addictions Research Group that aim to understand trends and patterns in alcohol consumption, and how they are affected by public health interventions. In particular, we have previously used qualitative methods to analyse the reasons for the decline in young people’s alcohol consumption and want to apply similar approaches to trends in adult drinking. More information on our work can be found here:

Team webpage: https://sarg-sheffield.ac.uk/publications/

Journal articles:

https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13710

https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2023.2190013

Aims:

This PhD project aims to understand how women in professions with cultures of heavy drinking experience and negotiate these cultures, what consequences they perceive their involvement in these cultures to have on their own drinking, and the implications of this for public health policy. This may include developing an appropriate qualitative or mixed method research design to (i) identify professional groups with heavy drinking cultures through a systematic literature review, (ii) devise sampling and recruitment strategies for qualitative data collection with women who are members of selected professions, (iii) conduct interviews with women to explore their experience of negotiating the profession’s drinking culture, (iv) explore potential interventions with appropriate organisations, such as professional associations and trade unions.

Methodological approach:

The methodological approach will be determined by the student and their interests. We anticipate the project using primarily qualitative methods, but it may also draw on systematic review methodology, survey methods or statistical analyses of secondary data to identify professions of interest or explore general trends in women’s drinking.

Research environment:

The successful candidate will join the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, a centre of excellence for alcohol and public health research. We are a friendly, supportive and interdisciplinary group of researchers with backgrounds in a wide range of disciplines, including public health, sociology, and economics. The group attracts significant grant income, publishes in leading academic journals and works closely with policy makers. In addition to Sheffield’s excellent doctoral training programme, the candidate will have opportunities to contribute to publications, and will gain experience of writing funding applications and teaching.

Entry Requirements:

Essential: Candidates must have a first or upper second class honours degree, and a Merit at masters or significant research experience. At least one of these degrees should be in a relevant discipline (e.g. a social science or public health).

Desirable: This PhD project would suit candidates with a strong background in qualitative research and an interest in gender, women’s health and feminist theory.

How to apply:

Please complete a University Postgraduate Research Application form available here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/applying. Please clearly state the prospective main supervisor in the respective box and select ‘School of Medicine and Population Health: Population Health’ as the department.