Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Tune In: Understanding the angry drunk

15 minutes

Find Out: Why take the risk?

20 minutes

Take Action: The power of peers

5 minutes

Reflection

Note: We recommend you follow this lesson with Coward Punch: Anger Management 101 - HPE - Years 9 & 10 so that students can learn ways to manage their anger, hopefully helping them avoid substance-related aggression in the future. You might also find it useful to explore De-escalation Strategies and The Bystander Effect. If you feel students need individual support in managing their anger or substance use, refer to the 1-on-1 resources for appropriate referral avenues and tips for starting the conversation with them.

Tune In: Understanding the angry drunk

Safety first: This topic may be quite triggering for students. Many students have relatives or friends who may partake in substance abuse or get violent. Ensure students have access to appropriate referral channels (find these in the Handling Sensitive Topics and Issues Factsheet) and understand that they can take whatever action they need to feel safe, including exiting the lesson for time out.

Step 1 (optional)

If students require more context on the coward punch, play this video:

Coward's Punch - Case Study (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vTuZ3EHvhI)

Step 2

Play this video:

Man to Man - Stop the Coward's Punch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-K7jNu-mE8)

Step 3

Display this quote spoken by Mark Hunt in the video:

Stop blaming drugs and alcohol and believing that walking away makes you weak.
- Mark Hunt

Distribute the Student Worksheet and invite students to complete a Think Pair Share on the following questions:

Do you think drugs or alcohol cause violence?
Do you believe taking drugs or alcohol can make a person more aggressive?
Do you think taking drugs or alcohol can make someone more likely to be a victim of violence?
Why do you think this coward punch advertisement says that drugs and alcohol aren’t an excuse for violent behaviour?

Step 4

Invite students to put their hands up to indicate whether they think coward punches more often involve either ‘drugs’ or ‘alcohol’. Explain that alcohol is the most common drug found in both victims (around 60%) and perpetrators (nearly half) of coward punches, although it is not present in all instances.

Step 5

Invite students to share their thoughts on why some people get aggressive or violent when they are drunk. Note these answers on the board.

Step 6

Ask students to consider why many other people don’t get angry when they are drunk. Take note of these answers also.

Step 7

Read this article with the class, or have students read independently, highlighting key phrases:

Adapted from: People Who Suppress Anger Become Violent When Drunk By Live Science Staff June 29, 2010 (https://www.livescience.com/6640-people-suppress-anger-violent-drunk.html)

Getting drunk increases the risk for violent behaviour, but only for people who have a strong tendency to suppress feelings of anger when sober, a new Scandinavian study suggests.

While previous studies have found a link between drinking and aggressive or violent actions, many of these were either performed in a laboratory (which does not necessarily reflect real-world drunkenness) or based on surveys from a single time period.

Studies carried out over a longer time provide a better clue as to whether drinking actually causes violence, or the behaviour is instead due to other factors, such as personality traits.

The new study was based on surveys from nearly 3,000 adolescents and young adults in Norway. The participants were assessed twice, first at 16-17 years of age and again at ages 21-22.

The subjects were asked how frequently they engaged in heavy drinking ("during the past 12 months, have you had so much to drink that you felt clearly intoxicated?"), and in violent behaviours ("during the past 12 months, have you been in a fight?")

Several survey items also gauged their tendency to suppress anger, including "I’m often angrier than I am willing to admit, I often boil inside, even if it doesn’t show."

Among individuals who reported a high inclination to suppress feelings of anger, a 10-per cent increase in drinking to the point of intoxication was associated with a 5-per cent increase in violence. So those who held in their anger were more likely to get drunk and that drunkenness was linked to an increase in the likelihood of getting into a brawl. The researchers observed no such association among those who did not habitually suppress their angry feelings.

"Only a tiny fraction of all drinking events involve violence," the researchers write in the June 21 issue of the journal Addiction. "And whether intoxicated aggression is likely to occur seems to depend on the drinkers' propensity to withhold angry feelings when sober."

Those with pent-up rage might act violently, because drinking alcohol can result in loss of self-control, the researchers say.

The study was carried out by researchers at the Swedish Institute for Social Research, and the Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research.

Learning support opportunity: Some students may prefer to watch this video: What Is an Angry Drunk? | Alcoholism

Step 8

Invite students to complete the Connect Extend Challenge activity on the Student Worksheet:

How does this information CONNECT with what you already know about alcohol and aggression?
How does it EXTEND your thinking on alcohol and aggression?
What do you find CHALLENGING or confusing?

Students can then share their thoughts with a partner.

Extension opportunity: Students might like to research and compare the effects of THC and methylamphetamine to determine how likely they are to make a person act aggressively.

Find Out: Why take the risk?

Step 1

Show students this definition of risk-taking:

"Risk-taking means taking actions that might have unpleasant or undesirable results." (Collins Dictionary)

Pose these questions:

Why do people take risks with alcohol and drugs?
If someone often becomes aggressive or violent when they drink (or use other substances), why do they keep doing it?

Invite students to discuss their theories in small groups, then lead a class discussion. List their thoughts on the board.

Step 2

Play this video:

What happens to our brains when we drink alcohol? | RMIT University (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah5_f2LLurE)

Have students complete this table on the Student Worksheet:

Brain effect	Reasons why someone might continue to drink alcohol
Prefrontal cortex
Memory
Dopamine
Other:

Ask them to talk to a partner about their responses and add any new ideas to their tables.

Take Action: The power of peers

Step 1

Play this video:

Adolescent risk-takers: The power of peers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q4tlPEihAM)

Invite students to consider the power of positive peer influence in a situation where a friend has a history of acting aggressively when drinking alcohol.

What might they say to this friend (while they are sober)?
What might convince them to get help or cut back on drinking for a while?
What healthy risks could they suggest their friend take instead?

You might like them to talk in pairs or small groups, or write individual responses to these questions. Ask for some volunteers to share their responses.

Reflection

Invite students to complete these sentence stems relating to risk-taking and alcohol:

I used to think…
Now I know…
I’d like to learn…

If you feel students need individual support in managing their anger or substance use, refer to the 1-on-1 resources for appropriate referral avenues and tips for starting the conversation with them.

Coward Punch - Risk-taking and Alcohol

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