Cultural factors and home-brewed alcohol use in a rural community in South Africa

This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between cultural orientation and home- brewed alcohol use among adolescents in a rural setting. The study involved 1263 students from 30 high schools in Mankweng District in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Boys formed 48% of the sample. Means ages were 16.7 and 16.0 years for boys and girls respectively. A 16 item scale focusing on language, mass media and music preferences was constructed to measure cultural orientations. There was an integration of western and traditional/local activities by respondents who reported having used home-brewed alcohol in the past 12 months. In some respects the sample had western tendencies i.e. English newspapers were read more than no-English newspapers and funky music tended to be preferred to traditional South African music, while in others the reverse was true i.e. Radio Thobela (a radio station that uses vernacular languages) was listened to more than Radio Metro (a radio station that uses English language only). There were significant differences between boys and girls in the use of western media. Older adolescents (18 years or older) used more home brewed alcohol than the younger ones. The concept of culture and its associations with alcohol use invites a critical view on cultural values among adolescents. The positive association with home-brewed alcohol use among secondary school students in our sample has been demonstrated for an orientation towards external cultural influence. Educators and learners need to increase their consciousness on the problematic side of cultural import.