Sara Rolando

First drink: What does it mean? The alcohol socialization process in different drinking cultures

Aims: The aim of this qualitative research is to show how the alcohol socialization process – i.e. the ways children and young people get acquainted with alcohol – can generate very diverse experiences and meanings in different cultural contexts. Method: A total of 16 focus groups were conducted in Italy and Finland, divided by age (4 groups), gender and socio-cultural level. A total of 190 participants took part in the study. Findings: The findings support the hypothesis that the alcohol socialization process takes place in very different ways and assumes diverse meaning in the two countries involved in the study. In Italy the relationship with alcohol takes place as part of a gradual process and participants’ first memories of drinking alcohol are connected to positive values. In Finland, on the other hand, often the first experiences of drinking overlap with the first experiences of intoxication and alcohol images reflect an ambiguous relation with this substance, closely related to its intoxicating effects. Conclusions: Results show that the alcohol socialization process can take very different forms and meanings according to a specific drinking cultures. Thus, further comparative research should take into more consideration the implication of these substantial differences.

Boundaries between Adult and Youth Drinking as Expressed by Young People in Italy and Finland

The study applies the concept of boundary work, as developed by Lamont and Molnár to analyze how young people perceive adult drinking. It is based on eight focus groups involving young people aged 17 to 24 years conducted in Torino (IT) and Helsinki (FI). The study contributes to understand why different orientations towards heavy drinking persist in the two geographical regions. In Italy young people draw explicit boundaries between theirs’ and adults’ drinking and between proper and deviant drinking, so that their boundary work results in producing social norms that are shared with adults, except for drunkenness, which is seen as normal for young people but not for adults. In Finland young people distance themselves from adults’ drinking situations, and describe them in terms of light versus heavy drinking, yet without making distinctions between proper and improper drinking in each situation, thereby articulating an absence of explicit norms against drunkenness.

Adolescents' understandings of binge drinking in Southern and Northern European contexts – cultural variations of ‘controlled loss of control’

Previous research on youth drinking has brought out important features in young peoples time- out cultures as and how they relate to the current neo-liberal social order with its expectation of self-governing individuals. However, previous research has not sufficiently considered cultural variations on the meaning of binge drinking for young people; in particular, there have been very few studies dealing with under-aged drinkers. This paper considers the applicability of binge drinking as ‘controlled loss of control’ in Northern and Southern European contexts by comparing young peoples perceptions of binge drinking in Finland and Italy, which have conventionally been considered as representing sharply contrasting drinking traditions. The data consist of 28 focus-group interviews conducted at schools among 15-year-old pupils (N = 148) in Helsinki and Turin. In both countries, binge drinking was seen as risky, but it was associated with social norms that defined the limits of successful or failed drinking experience. Cultural variations were found especially in the ways self-control was defined with regard to drinking regulation. However, in both data the competence of the drinker and self-control was emphasized, thus contradicting the interpretation of binge drinking as loss of control or a time-out from the neo-liberal social order.

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

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 peoples 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.

Collectivist and individualist values traits in Finnish and Italian adolescents' alcohol norms

Purpose – The study aims to investigate a possible application of the concepts of individualist and collectivist (I‐C) value traits in inquiries on alcohol drinking norms in different alcohol cultures.Design/methodology/approach – Data from focus group discussions (n=16) with Italian and Finnish adolescents (aged 13‐16) is trialled against some typical dissimilarities featured in the literature on I‐C cultures.Findings – The study shows that the features identified in the I‐C dichotomy regarding personality traits and parental goal for children correlate with some culturally anchored meaning‐making of agency and autonomy emphasized in judgements of correct ways of drinking.Originality/value – The authors conclude that with certain caveats I‐C dichotomy could indeed be applied more in the cross‐cultural alcohol research.

Alcohol Consumption and Quality of Life Among Young Adults: A Comparison Among Three European Countries

The study aims to investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and quality of life (QoL) on a representative sample of adults aged 25–34 living in France, Italy, and the Netherlands (4,841 subjects). The data was collected in 2008 using telephone interviews and analyzed with cluster analysis using Wards method. Results show that the impact of alcohol consumption on QoL depends mainly on predominant consumption style and drinking culture that should be investigated further to identify protective factors.

From Criminals to Celebrities: Perceptions of "the Addict" in the Print Press from Four European Countries from Nineties to Today

The article reviews portrayals of “the addict” in press items from Italy, Finland, Poland, and The Netherlands. The dataset consists of 1,327 items from four national newspapers published in 1991, 1998, 2011. The portrayals varied according to country, period, and type of addiction problem. Results can be read as four cases where different conceptualizations (“the sinner,” “the sick,” “the social problem,” “the criminal,” and “the famous”) assume diverse importance. These conceptual frames-of-reference are clearly neither unambiguous nor fixed. They are constantly modified and part of different trends.

Stakeholders' role in contemporary "substitute drug" prescribing policies in Italy.

This article, part of a comparative research project (WP2) funded by FP7 ALICE RAP, is based upon a review of literature and documents and 18 individual interviews with Italian national stakeholders (SHs) conducted in 2012. The goal was to identify the main shifts in opioid “substitution drug” treatment policies and understand the role played by different SHs during the last 30 years. The study confirms that opioid “substitution drug” treatment is a particularly suitable theme for improving knowledge in the field of SH analysis, even if results show that changes in policies are mainly due to external factors rather than to the action of SHs.

The more you know, the better you drink: The new drinking culture in Italian wine production areas

Abstract Introduction: The paper complements an epidemiological analysis of secondary data that compared levels of consumption, alcohol-related mortality and morbidity in territories in Piedmont (N-W Italy), characterized by a different involvement with wine culture, and which showed lower alcohol-related risks in areas of production. Aims: The main aim is to shed light on these epidemiological results through qualitative methods, focusing on meanings attributed to drinking and on mechanisms of regulation that could explain why in wine-producing areas alcohol-related risks appear to be lower. Methods: Eighty-one in-depth individual interviews have been conducted. The sample consisted of males and females, from three cohorts (aged 18–25; 45–52; 70–77 years) and covering two areas (with higher versus lower vineyard acreage). Results: In areas characterized by wine production the traditional alcohol socialization process within the family is more persistent. In these areas, the traditional drinking culture has been not only valued, but also renewed, by emphasising the importance of proper drinking and the knowledge related to it. Conclusions: The alcohol socialisation process and the emphasis on wine as a cultural product seem to be the most relevant protective factors, contributing to the lower alcohol consumption and counteracting the widespread risk of alcohol consumption patterns.

What Causes Addiction Problems? Environmental, Biological and Constitutional Explanations in Press Portrayals From Four European Welfare Societies

Press items (N = 1327) about addiction related problems were collected from politically independent daily newspapers in Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland from 1991, 1998, and 2011. A synchronized qualitative coding was performed for discerning the descriptions of the genesis to the problems in terms of described causes to and reasons for why they occur. Environmental explanations were by far the most common and they varied most between the materials. The analysis documents how the portrayals include traces of their contextual origin, relating to different media tasks and welfare cultural traditions. Meaning-based differences were also assigned to the kind of problems that held the most salience in the press reporting. A general worry over societal change is tied into the explanations of accumulating addiction problems and underpins the press reporting in all countries.