Images of alcohol among Italian adolescents. Understanding their point of view

Abstract

Aims: This study aims to plug the gap about how young people understand their direct and indirect experience with alcohol by investigating the prevalent images of alcohol among 15-year-olds. The study also aims to clarify the position of young Italians towards traditional Italian drinking culture. Methods: Twenty-two focus groups were organized in two Italian towns, Torino and Cosenza. The focus groups (FGs) used the Reception Analytical Group Interview (RAGI) method, wherein respondents are invited to discuss after seeing video clips used as a stimulus. The material thus collected was analysed through an approach that takes both the participants' interpretative processes and their socio-cultural environment into consideration. Findings: Using 'drinking situations' as an analytical tool, it was found that young people's images about drinking are still in line with tradition, as are the importance assigned to social drinking and the stigma attached to intoxication. Young people also appear to be aware of the negative consequences of drinking, even if the risks related to pharmaceutical use seem to be underestimated. Conclusions: Results cast doubt on the supposed convergence of drinking patterns within Europe and provide useful insights for the development of alcohol use and abuse policies and prevention.

Defining “drinking culture”: A critical review of its meaning and connotation in social research on alcohol problems

“…Many of the studies focus on young people (e.g. Beccaria & Prina, 2010;Bye & Rossow, 2010;Hellman & Rolando, 2013;Loughran, 2010;Petrilli et al, 2014;Rolando, Beccaria, Tigerstedt, & Törrönen, 2012), reflecting a conceptualisation of youth drinking as in itself a problem, and ignoring the range of other frames in which the material might be analysed. In addition, with the exception of a few studies (e.g.…”

Adults’ views of young people's drinking in Italy: An explorative qualitative research

“…All the focus groups were gender-mixed except one held in Cosenza, where the participants were all adolescents' mothers. The same high schools where students were interviewed for the previous study (Petrilli et al, 2014) were contacted. As schools were selected in order to reach different socio-cultural environments, both general high schools and vocational schools were involved.…”

“…Focus groups were conducted between September 2012 and February 2013 using the same method and stimuli used with students (Petrilli et al, 2014) in order to maximize the comparability of qualitative data. The method used, called R.A.G.I.…”

“…In this sense, the increasing influence of Northern European cultures on Southern European wine-drinking cultures is assumed to be associated with potentially detrimental changes in the latters' attitudes and behaviours that result in an increase in alcoholrelated problems and heavy drinking (Ahlström & Ö sterberg, 2005;Bjarnason, 2010;SIRC, 1998). Actually, qualitative Italian studies have shown that contemporary youth drinking experiences and practices are heterogeneous and complex, with aspects that follow tradition and others that break with it (Beccaria, 2010a(Beccaria, , 2010bPetrilli, Beccaria, Prina, & Rolando, 2014;Rolando & Katainen, in press). In addition, differences between Northern and Southern Italy persist, as young people in the South drink less and get drunk less frequently, and the gender gap is more pronounced (ISTAT, 2013).…”

“…We start from a previous study (Petrilli et al, 2014) which, through focus group discussions, gave voice to young social actors in order to clarify what images of alcohol prevail among 15-year-old boys and girls. Results indicated that young people share traditional views of Italian drinking culture, such as considering alcohol consumption as a complement to social interaction rather than a goal in itself, and disapproving of drunkenness.…”