A+culture+of+corruption

Name: Tue Nguyen Student Id: n8326827 Tutor: Sophie Miller (Images from the cultural artefact YouTube)
 * Cultural Artefact **

[|Skins Private Party] ====The cultural artefact is a YouTube clip from the fictional television Series ‘Skins’ filmed and based in the United Kingdom (UK) on the lives on six teenagers in ==== ====the twenty first century. The 3.46 minute clip entails all cast members from the first season of the series. The characters are between the ages of 17-19 and are seen ==== ==== raving with a crowd of teenagers dressed in flamboyant and eccentric costumes all exemplifying precarious behaviour such as drinking to a state of intoxication, ====

taking ecstasy, hallucination drugs and also executing sexual acts.
**Public health issue** ====The public health issue associated with the ‘Skins Private Party’ is excessive alcohol consumption and the use of recreational drugs by adolescents in generation Y. ==== ====Heavy drinking and illicit drug use account for high rates of morbidity and mortality among adolescents (Katz, Fromme, & D’Amico, 2000). According to the ==== ====National Drug Strategy Survey (NDSS), marijuana use increased by 19% since 1973 (12% of adults) compared to the now 31% of the sample population aged over ==== ====14 years(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007). An increasing trend of alcohol consumption in different age groups over the decade of (1995-2005) also ==== ====reveals that the drinking patterns have risen over time for generation Y. According to the ABS, 35% of Australians aged 14 years and over consume alcohol at risky ====

or high levels over short term periods.
==== Alcohol intoxication and drug normalization has disrupted drug policy as increasing negative media portrayals have become incorporated into everyday youth ==== ====subculture within the twenty first century (Blackman, 2008). Teenage drinking patterns and other health risk behaviours in adolescence predict alcohol dependence in ==== ==== adulthood. It is therefore crucial for prevention and early intervention strategies to be implanted in Australia to reduce long-term alcohol and drug related harm. ==== ====Factors including media exposure and alcohol /drug supply- which influence teenage consumption and high risk drinking patterns, and substance use (Bonomo, ==== ====Bowes, Coffey, Carlin, & Patton, 2004) must be considered by public health experts in order to re-adress, and shift such behaviours within generation Y. ====

**Literature review** ====Substance abuse among adolescents likely reflects the interactions between a genetic predisposition and environmental factors. The exposure to media is a modifiable ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">environmental factor, which has the potential to increase the prevalence of alcohol, and illicit drug use amongst youths in generation Y (Nunez-Smit, et al., 2010). ==== <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"> ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">A systematic review conducted by Nunez-Smit,et al. (2010) revealed that 83% of the collected studies was closely correlated to negative outcomes. Results found that ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> media exposure of alcohol consumption, smoking and illicit drug use heightened the interest and increased risk of such behaviours amongst youths in generation Y. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Furthermore, the study found that adolescent substance and abuse is coupled with an array of psychiatric diagnoses such as mental health disorders, depression and suicidal thoughts. ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">In 2004, 38% of Australians aged 14 years and over had used an illicit drug in their lifetime. Cannabis was the most common drug used by 15-24 year olds at (18%), ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> followed by ecstasy (9%) and meth/amphetamines at 4%. Moreover, illicit drugs and alcohol was the largest individual contributing risk factor to the total burden of ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">disease and injury among people aged 15-24 years. For men, 12% was attributed for alcohol, 11% for illicit drug use, and for women, 5% and 2% respectively in ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Blackman (2008) suggests that coverage derived from digital media of drug representations, by mainstream capitalism, to sell commodities for profit is the cause for ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">the increasing rates of burden of disease and injury among adolescents in generation Y. Between 2004-06, six percent of 78 deaths were attributed to deaths among ==== ====<span style="color: #101010; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">young people aged 15-24 years due to drug use. In regards to hospitalization rates, young women were most vulnerable with 60% out of 11 700 patients admitted with ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Similar to Blackmans’ (2008) idea of drug normalization originating from the influence of media and advertising; Smith & Foxcroft (2007) state that marketing ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">campaigns produced by drink manufactures represents young people to be empowered and jovial with sociable mannerisms. These advertisements, which portray such ====

==== <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">It has also become increasing normal for young people to regularly drink to intoxications as, ‘ alcohol consumption among young people has increased since the early 1990s’ (Szmigin, Bengry-Howell, Griffin, Hackley, & Mistral, 2011). According to the ABS, in 2005-06, male and female ==== ==== <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">teenagers aged 15-19 years,had the highest hospitalisation rates for acute intoxication from alcohol (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Measham ==== ==== <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">(2006) suggests that youths who see celebrities engaged in excessive drinking in the media decreases the impact of fear and instead, creates a ==== ==== <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">‘credibility gap’. Thus, alcohol advertising is a contributing risk factor, which has enforced the notion of social acceptability and thereby fosters both ==== ==== <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">initial and continued use of excessive drinking (Ellickson, Collins, Hambarsoomians, & McCaffrey, 2004). ====

====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Gender variations also affect in patterns of alcohol consumption. On average, men usually begin drinking at an earlier age than women at 16, ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">compared to 18 years. However, females have a higher tendency for vulnerability to acute and chronic effects of alcohol misuse than males ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> (AIHW, 2008). ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">The detrimental effects associated with alcohol outweigh the benefits, as according to the World Health Organisation (2007), alcohol misuse ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">contributes to a net harm of 4.4% of the global burden of disease. Additionally, deaths and hospitalizations, considerably caused by road accidents and ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> violent assault, are generally more common among younger age groups (Chikritzhs, et al., 2003). ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Additionally, Emafo (2008) suggests that, ‘celebrities can profoundly influence attitudes, values and behaviour, particularly among young people’. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Children and adolescents see celebrities as role models, hence when exposed to pictures or names they admire in a state of intoxication from drugs and ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> alcohol, they perceive this behaviour to be socially acceptable (Blackman, 2008). ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Insufficient parental monitoring is also an important risk factor among adolescents, as according to Hirschi’s social control theory, deviant behaviour occurs when the ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">bond of the individual to conventional society (eg. Parental supervision, school education) is weak or broken (Barnes, Hoffman, Welte, Farrell, & Dintcheff, 2006). ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Hence, excessive amounts of time spent unsupervised with peers at parties and in other contexts, may reinforce or exacerbate adolescent substance use and ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">delinquency, which contribute to a variety of risky behaviours (Osgood & Anderson, 2004). Socio- demographic factors such as gender, age, race and socioeconomic ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> status also influence the prevalence of illicit substance use, delinquent behaviour and sexual activity. It is therefore suggested that occupying time in conventional ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">activities to distract from deviant behaviour is necessary to reduce health related issues (Barnes, Hoffman, Welte, Farrell, & Dintcheff, 2006). ====

**Cultural and social analysis** ==== S<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">ocial disadvantages and inequities contribute to the poor health statuses of Indigenous Australians and as a result, have a lower life expectancy than non- Indigenous ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Australians. It is crucial to understand the underlying reasons of alcohol and drug misuse by Indigenous people in Australia in order to implement preventative and ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">effective strategies to decrease risk determinants among youths. Thus, it is necessary to examine the social and structural determinants of health within this group. ====

====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Indigenous Australians constitute 2.6% of Australia’s population; yet, experience alcohol-related harms at levels disproportionate to the rest of the ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">population(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007). Seven percent of Indigenous Australian deaths result from alcohol related causes ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">(Wilson, Stearne A, Gray, & Sherry, 2010). In 2003, alcohol accounted for 6.2% of the overall burden of disease among Indigenous Australians. Voss, Barker, ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Stanley & Lopez (2007) estimated that the burden of disease associated with alcohol use by Indigenous Australians is almost double that of the general Australian ====

====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">A wide range of detrimental factors are implicated with alcohol abuse which contributes to the degrading health of individuals as well as social problems such as: ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">violence; social disorder; family breakdown; child neglect; loss of income or diversion of income to purchase alcohol and other substance; and high levels of ====

====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Tesson, Hall, Lynskey & Degenhardt (2000) found that 48% of males and 9% of females with an alcohol use disorder within the Australian population fulfilled the ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> criteria for an anxiety, or drug use disorder. Additionally, alcohol is associatedwith 40% of male and 30% of female suicides within the Indigenous Australian ====

====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Alcohol related harm also broadens beyond youths in generation Y, to include social and economic costs of harm to families, communities and society at large ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">(WHO, 2007). Financial problems, poverty, drink driving, traffic accidents and suicide are all attributed to alcohol abuse or intoxication ====

====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) in 2004-05 collected information regarding personal and household characteristics. ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> It was found that cannabis was used by 23% of Indigenous Australians 12 months prior to the survey, and over 28% used illicit substances. A large decrease was also ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> identified as marijuana usage declined from 29% in 1999 to 18% in 2005 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007). ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Alcohol and drug prevention programs should foster media awareness by taking into account the multiple sources of alcohol advertising to which young people are ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> exposed (Katz, Fromme, & D’Amico, 2000). The ‘Australian Alcohol Strategy’ is the current policy for targeting alcohol misuse in Australia; it’s objective is to ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">‘prevent and minimize alcohol- related harm to individuals, families and communities in the context for developing safer and healthier drinking cultures in Australia’ ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">(Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, 2006). Primary prevention interventions include programs currently in place that aim to educate expectant parents on the ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">threat of alcohol to the unborn child, such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and provide support to parents with new babies. ====

====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Moreover, it is also imperative for public health experts to advocate and increase awareness of the negative health determinants by implementing school and parent ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">education programs and activities that provide alternatives to alcohol use. Lee, Cognigrave, Clough, Silins, & Rawles (2008) suggests that fostering positive family ==== ====<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">relationships by participating in sporting, recreational and cultural activities is vital for developing young people’s self esteem and improving cultural connectedness- ====

<span style="color: #272827; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">factors shown to protect against substance use.
**Analysis of artefact and Own learning reflections**

<span style="color: #272827; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> The ‘Skins Private Party’ video clip is a prime example of adolescents under the influence of alcohol and drug intoxication participating in deviant behaviours. The <span style="color: #272827; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> twenty first century offers a broad range of opportunities to share, communicate and exchange ideas in an efficient and effective manner though advancements in  <span style="color: #272827; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> technology and new media. This cultural artefact is an idyllic representation of the high level of magnitude and influence that media, such as online streaming can <span style="color: #272827; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">have upon the vulnerable adolescents. This was evident in many of the literature reviews as Blackman (2008) suggests that drug and alcohol normalization has been <span style="color: #272827; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">accepted in youth culture due to the influence of media exposure and glamorization of substance abuse.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> The fictional portrayal of teenage parties and raves in the video sets a form of ‘criteria’ and ‘standard’ of unrealistic expectations. These high prospects can be  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">misinterpreted by youths in particular, as they are susceptible and easily influenced by cultural, social and environmental factors. Such factors therefore construct a  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">‘credibility gap’ (Measham, 2006), permitting youths to believe that: it is acceptable to participate in excessive drinking and drug consumption behaviours; and that by   <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> replicating such behaviours- as seen in the media, will result in exciting, enjoyable and pleasurable outcomes. The idea that engaging in risk-taking behaviour will <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> result in a ‘good time’, is however, fallacious as in actuality, there are dire consequences in pursuing such detrimental pursuits.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">This assignment gave me insight to three, new dominant perspectives and has challenged the way I perceive the world today. Firstly, I learnt that <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> although the media has the ability to share ideas and collaborate efficiently, exposure to various cultural and social environments also significantly <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">determines an individual’s values and behaviours in the long term. Secondly, being a teenager in generation Y myself, I was ignorant to the alarming <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">statistics and health-related consequences of alcohol and drug abuse in Australia. Prior to this assignment, I believed that it was both ‘normal’ and <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">acceptable to drink to levels of intoxication and experiment with drugs. This notion has changed after understanding that the social environment, and <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> increase media exposure - which I have grown to accept, has implemented the idea that it is customary to participate in such deviant behaviours. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Finally, I have grasped a better understanding of the history and underlying causes for why alcohol abuse is so common within Indigenous <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">communities. I believe it is important to devise preventative and supportive health services for marginalized groups that <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> experience social inequality and disadvantages in order to ‘close the gap’ between Indigenous and Non Indigenous people.

** References **

AIHW. (2008). //2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey.// Canberra: Australian Institute of Health & Welfare.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008, 23-December). //Risk taking by young peopl//. Retrieved 2011, 31-October from Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Chapter5002008

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2006). //Statistics on drug use in Australia 2006.// Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2007). //Statistics on drug use in Australia.// Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Barnes, G. M., Hoffman, J. H., Welte, J. W., Farrell, M. P., & Dintcheff, B. A. (2006). Adolescents’ Time Use: Effects on Substance Use, Delinquency and Sexual Activity. //Youth Adolescence//, 697–710.

Blackman, S. (2008). Youth subcultures, normalisation and dru gprohibition: The politics of contemporary crisis and change? //British Politics//, 337–366.

Bonomo, Y. A., Bowes, G., Coffey, C., Carlin, J. B., & Patton, G. C. (2004). Teenage drinking and the onset of alcohol dependence:a cohort study over seven years. //Addiction//, 1520–1528.

Chikritzhs, T., Catalano, P., Stockwell, T., Donath, S., Ngo, H., Young, D., et al. (2003). //Australian Alcohol Indicators, 1990-2001 Patterns of alcohol use and related harms for Australian states and territories .// Melbroune: National Drug Research Institute Curtin University Technology.

Crombie, I. K., Irvine, L., Lawrence, E., & Wallace, H. (2007). How do public health policies tackle alcohol-related harm: a review of 12 developed countries. //Alcohol and alcoholism//, 492-499.

Dawson, D. A. (2000). lcohol consumption, alcohol dependence, and all-cause mortality. //Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research//, 72-81.

Ellickson, P. L., Collins, R. L., Hambarsoomians, K., & McCaffrey, D. F. (2004). Does alcohol advertising promote adolescent drinking? Results from a longitudinal assessment. //Addiction//, 235–246.

Emafo, P. O. (2008). //Message from the President.// Retrieved 2011, 27-October from www.incb.org/pdf/annual-report/2007/en/ press-kit.pdf

Fulkerson, J. A., Pasch, K. E., Perry, C. L., & Komro, K. (2008). Relationships Between Alcohol-related Informal Social Control,Parental Monitoring and Adolescent Problem Behaviors Among Racially Diverse Urban Youth. //Community Health//, 425–433.

Katz, E. C., Fromme, K., & D’Amico, E. J. (2000). Effects of Outcome Expectancies and Personality on Young Adults’ Illicit Drug Use, Heavy Drinking, and Risky Sexual Behavior. //Cognitive Therapy and Research//, 1-22.

Lee, K., Conigrave, K. M., Clough, R. A., Wallace, C., Silins, E., & Rawles, J. (2008). Evaluation of a community-driven preventive youth initiative in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. //Drug and Alcohol Review//, 75-82.

Measham, F. (2006). The new policy mix: alcohol, harm minimisation, and determined drunkenness in contemporary society. //International Journal of Drug Policy//, 258-268.

Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy. (2006). //National Alcohol Strategy 2006-2009: towards safer drinking cultures .// Canberra: Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy

Nunez-Smit, M., Wolf, E., Huang, H. M., Chen, P. G., Lee, L., Emanuel, E. J., et al. (2010). Media Exposure and Tobacco, Illicit Drugs, and Alcohol Use Among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review. //Substance Abuse//, 174-192.

Organization, World Health. (2007). //WHO Expert Committee on Problems Related to Alcohol Consumption.// Retrieved 2011, 25-October from World Health Organization : http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/expert_committee_alcohol/en/index.html

Osgood, W., & Anderson, A. L. (2004). Unstructured socializing and rates of delinquency. //Criminology//, 519-550.

Pascal, R., Chikritzhs, T., & Gray, D. (2009). stimating alcohol- attributable mortality among Indigenous Australians: towards Indigenous-specific alcohol aetiologic fractions. //Drug and alcohol review//, 96-200.

Smith, L. A., & Foxcroft, D. R. (2007). //The effect of alcohol advertising and marketing on drinking behaviour in young people: a systematic review.// Retrieved 2011, 28-October from European Centre for Monitoring Alcohol Marketing : www.stap.nl/eucam/home/smith_ foxcroft_2007.html

Szmigin, I., Bengry-Howell, A., Griffin, C., Hackley, C., & Mistral, W. (2011). Social marketing, individua lresponsibility and the “culture of intoxication". //European Journal of Marketing//, 759-779.

Wilson, M., Stearne A, Gray, D., & Sherry, S. (2010). //he harmful use of alcohol amongst Indigenous Australians.// Canberra: Australian Indigenous Infonet.

**Comments**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Student: Amy Jackson <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Link: http://healthculturesociety.wikispaces.com/Purchase+or+Perish <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Comments: An excellent analysis of the cultural and social factors, which underlie consumerism and expenditure amongst generation Y. I agree with <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Ferguson (2011), that Gen Y is addicted in the acquisition for ‘cool’ materialistic trends such as brands, fashions and technologies for self-image. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">It is interesting to know that generation Y has a rapid rate of spending power, than any other generation. Do you believe that the reason for that is <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">because there is a broader range of materialistic items available for consumption -due to the increase of technology and mass production; or do you  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">think people are becoming more narcissistic? And finally, I thought it was a great idea that you added an excerpt from the Bible; I think it really <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">emphasizes the fact that people have forgotten about he true value of happiness as they have neglected their spirituality, and instead have focused on  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">external sources to attain contentment.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Student: Alexandra Fitzgerald <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">Link: http://healthculturesociety.wikispaces.com/Finding+themselves+and+the+truth-+the+controversy+surrounding+dissociative+identity+disorder <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">Comments: That was a very comprehensive and well-researched literature review and cultural analysis Alexandra. I never knew that Dissociative <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">Identity Disorder (DID) existed and it is suprising to know that such films such as ‘Identity’ and ‘Secret Window’, were two movies which capture the  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">disorder- even though not all representations were accurate, an idea of the disorder is present. It is also alarming to know that DID evolves around <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">severe childhood abuse, where a child is subject to horrific sexual, physical and psychological abuse (Gleaves, 1996). Does this mean that most <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">children who has experienced abuse will develop some symptoms of DID, or is it in some cases only? Also, Piper and Merskey (2004) stated that there <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"> was an increase in DID cases during the 1980s, but there is no evidence to suggest a that there was a correlation to war, famine or increased child  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">abuse; what are your thoughts based on the study conducted?