Boundaries between adult and youth drinking

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

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Boundaries between Adult

and Youth Drinking as

Expressed by Young Peoplein Italy and Finland

Sara Rolando

Eclectica Institute for training and research, Torino,Italy & University of Helsinki, Finland

Jukka Trrnen

Stockholm University, The Centre for Social researchon Alcohol and Drugs (SoRAD), Sweden

Franca Beccaria

Eclectica Institute for training and research, Torino, Italy

Abstract

The study applies the concept of boundary work, as developed by Lamont andMolnr 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 orientationstowards heavy drinking persist in the two geographical regions. In Italy young peopledraw explicit boundaries between theirs and adults drinking and between properand deviant drinking, so that their boundary work results in producing social normsthat are shared with adults, except for drunkenness, which is seen as normal foryoung people but not for adults. In Finland young people distance themselves fromadults drinking situations, and describe them in terms of light versus heavy drinking,yet without making distinctions between proper and improper drinking in each situ-ation, thereby articulating an absence of explicit norms against drunkenness.

Keywords

drinking geographies, drinking patterns, young people, comparative research,drunkenness, qualitative methods

Introduction

The aim of the present study is to know how young people on the threshold of adult-

hood perceive adult drinking. In their view, what distinguishes youth drinking fromadult drinking? And what do they consider a normal or proper way of drinking for

Article

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228 Sara Rolando, Jukka Trrnen and Franca Beccaria

young people and for adults, as opposed to improper or even deviant drinking

behaviour?

We claim that looking at symbolic boundaries drawn by young peopleusing

boundary work as an analytical and theoretical conceptwe can better understand

youth drinking cultures in different drinking geographies and shed light on the ques-tions that have emerged in previous comparative studies. Boundaries are shaped

by context, and particularly by the cultural repertoires, traditions, and narratives

that individuals have access to (Lamont and Molnr, 2002: 171). That is they are

socially negotiated and cultural-bounded rather than individual constructs (Lamont,

2000; Trrnen and Maunu, 2005). From this, we would expect to find differences

between the boundary work processes in different geographies. We also expect

that these differences can be useful to better understanding how informal drinking

norms are maintained or change over time. In particular, we aim to understand how

20-year-old young men and women categorize the drinking of adult people and draw

boundaries that separate what is ordinary and normal drinking for adults and for

young people from deviant drinking. Further, we ask how they contextualize these

boundaries in specific personal or cultural narratives, linking them to specific kinds

of cultural contexts and narratives in their accounts.

Italy and Finland serve as expressive cases for comparison, as they traditionally

belong to opposite drinking cultures, namely wet and dry, where drinking habits,

formal and informal norms and drinking problems have been different for decades

(Beccaria and Prina, 1996; Cottino, 1991; Heath, 1995). In Italy, people are mostly

used to drinking regularly and during meals, while in Finland they tend to drink

less frequently but with more amounts per occasion; laws and official controls have

always been weaker in Italy than in Finland, but this is compensated for by a strong,

shared, control tradition with informal norms. Lastly, long-term diseases, such as

cirrhosis and liver cancer, have been prevalent in the case of Italy, while alcohol-

related accidents and violence have been prevalent in Finland (HFA-DB)1.

Drinking styles have been affected by many social and economic changes

such as urbanization, tertiarization and globalizationthat have occurred in the two

countries in recent decades (Allamani and Beccaria, 2007; Beccaria et al., 2010).

Consequently, talking about drinking cultures today might sound dated, especially

with reference to young people, whose consumptions are not easy to explain, as

they reflect both traditional and innovative aspects (Currie et al., 2012; Room, 2010;Tigerstedt and Trrnen, 2007). Also, aspects of similarity and of diversity can be

found between the two countries. For instance, according to the last transnational

surveys (Hibell et al., 2012), beer is the favourite beverage in both countries and the

proportion of respondents aged 16 years having engaged in binge drinking in the last

month is the same (35 per cent). However, the estimated average alcohol consump-

tions (last 30 days) remains much lower among Italian young people (4.1 vs. 7.5 cl),

while the percentage of young people reporting having been drunk in the last month

is likewise lower (13 per cent vs. 21 per cent).

Moreover, so far Italy and Finland continue to show opposite general drinking

consumption trends. In Finland, consumption progressively grew in recent decades,reaching a peak in 2007 with 10.45 litres and setting on 9.96 litres in 2009, while in

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Boundaries between Adult and Youth Drinking 229

Italy the average adult (aged 15+) per capita consumption has decreased consistently

since 1971, registered at 6.94 litres in 2009 (HFA-DB)1. As this decrease, which is

common also to other southern countries, cannot be attributed to alcohol policies, it

has been termed the Mediterranean Mystery (Karlsson et al., 2012). It may relate

with the fact that informal norms have always played a big role in regulating drink-ing in Southern countries (Cottino, 1991).

In this article we compare drinking geographies (Sulkunen, 2013) rather than

drinking cultures, as Torino and Helsinki do not exemplify or express homogeneous

national cultures, nor represent self-contained local cultures with clear boundaries.

Rather, as a crossroads for global and local influences, both cities embody different

kinds of drinking styles among individuals and groups.

Theoretical Framework

It is well established in the alcohol literature that alcohol consumption, especially

in adolescence, is an instrument for identity-making. Through the choice of what,

how much, with whom and where to drink, consumers state and communicate their

own social identity, mimicking or contrasting it to adults or to other young peo-

ples (Jrvinen and Gundelach, 2007; Kolind, 2011). Moreover, drinking games

and drunkenness also play the role of new liminal rituals, serving to emphasize

stages-of-life and careers that are increasingly fragmented and precarious in the

memory (Beccaria and Sande, 2003; Demant and Trrnen, 2011; Douglas, 2003).

Identity-making usually implicates a double process of identification with equals or

peers, and differentiation from others, outsiders or just different people, according

to the mechanism which in semiotic terms is called classification (see Trrnen and

Maunu, 2005).

Making distinctions corresponds to delineating boundaries, which is natu-

rally inherent in the identity-building process. People make symbolic boundaries

(Lamont and Molnr, 2002) in order to mark the peculiarity of their own social

group compared to others, or even to maintain superiority over them (Tajfel and

Turner, 1985). Symbolic boundaries are tools by which individuals and groups

struggle over and come to agree upon a definition of reality (Lamont and Molnr,

2002: 168), and for this reason they also translate into real social boundaries.Actually, contextual codes and social practices, such as those around drinking,

reflect and highlight boundaries: symbolic boundaries are constructed through

social practices, attitudes and values that are affirmed and re-affirmed through

interactions (Southerton, 2002: 175).

Boundaries not only exclude but also act as a bridge and create a sense of com-

munity; they are viewed as classifications that maintain a constant identity, while

being plastic enough to adapt to different communities or social worlds and robust

enough to maintain a common identity across sites (Bowker and Star, 1999: 297).

In this study we use the boundary concept as an analytical tool to look at informal

normswhat is considered proper drinking vs. not proper drinking in the view ofyoung peopleand to look at how young people express their identity as drinkers



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differently or similarly to adults. We assume that when a certain classification recurs

in communication, this suggests it has gained an established position in its cultural

domain (Trrnen and Maunu, 2005: 30), keeping in mind that classifications are

not fixed, but are rather collectively updated and adapted to changing contexts and

times. For this reason theres a need to look at their permeability, salience, durabilityand visibility in order to understand the conditions under which boundaries assume

certain characteristics (Lamont and Molnr, 2002: 186). In our study this means

trying to explain how, in different geographies, boundaries of normal drinking are

negotiated among young people, in particular with respect to adulthood.

To better understand the differences that persist among southern and northern

European countries, previous qualitative research has focused on the alcohol social-

ization process, looking at how the informal norms around drinking are transmitted

and acquired. For example, it has been shown (Beccaria et al., 2010; Rolando et al.,

2012) that in Italy and Finland two different images prevail concerning the childhood

images of drinking: one very positive and related to sociability and family values,

the other more ambiguous and problem-aware, though also related to values where

boundaries of everyday life are transgressed. Still, before drinking with peers, young

Italian people are allowed for many years by adults to taste and then to drink a little

wine or beer. In the meanwhile they are taught what is proper drinking. In contrast,

young Finnish peoples first drink largely corresponds to the first drunkenness with

peers. Moreover, compared to their Finnish peers, Italian teenagers seem to refer to

a detailed and contextualized system of informal norms that regulate how, where,

how much and with whom drinking is appropriate or not (Hellman and Rolando,

2013; Rolando and Katainen, 2014). It has been suggested that this could be a result

of the fact that the lengthy drinking socialization process is monitored, or in other

words overseen by mature family members. Also Italian teenagers seem to be more

conscious about risky consumption and about the addictive power of alcohol, while

Finnish youth have great confidence in individual competence to avoid any risk

(Rolando and Katainen in press), which could explain why Finnish young people

show a higher propensity for risk-taking behaviour and more positive expectations

about the consequences of alcohol use (e.g., they think that alcohol will make them

feel happy and relaxed more than feel sick or get a hangover) (Hibell et al., 2012;

Jrvinen and Room, 2007).

Alcohol socialization, intended as a process through which people discoveralcohol and acquire knowledge and competence about drinking, lasts the whole life.

In this study we look at that stage of the process just before adulthood, when more

stable and culture-bound adult drinking styles are normally acquired (Beccaria and

Scarscelli, 2007; Fillmore, 1988; Neve et al., 2000).

Methodology

The data werecollected in 2007 in Torino and Helsinki metropolitan areas by using

focus group interviews. This method was chosen as best fitting the exploratorynature of the research question. In contrast to individual interviews, it is a research



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tool that is well suited for the analysis of group negotiations through which collec-

tive understandings of specific phenomena are established (Morgan, 1997).

For each country four focus groups, divided by age, gender and socio-cultural

level were conducted. Altogether, eight focus groups involving 51 young people

(age 1724) both males and females (see Table 1) were organized.

Participants were recruited through a snow-ball technique by trying to reach dif-

ferent socio-cultural classes, according to criteria best-fitted to each country. In Italy

recruitment followed the criteria of place of residence (popular neighbourhood vs.

city centre); type of school (vocational vs. gymnasium); parents educational level.In Finland, the focus groups were composed of people who were from more edu-

cated (middle class, upper class) or low educated (working class) groups. This type

of recruitment permits a heterogeneous sample, taking account of eventual differ-

ences between different socio-economic backgrounds.

A series of stimulus images showing different drinking situations (e.g., includ-

ing intoxication or not, food or not, company or not, ) were shown to partici-

pants. By using stimulus images we wanted to promote free-flowing discussion

that is not restricted by the intervention of the interviewers or biased by the differ-

ent styles of the group moderators in conducting the interviews. The images also

facilitated comparisons of the boundary work by our interviewees. The intervie-wees were shown each picture separately and then asked to discuss: (a) What was the

Table 1.Data

Group IDSocio-cultural

Level/Education Gender AgeNo ofPart Occupation

ItalyI1_MH High Male 1720 8 Students (gymnasium,

various faculties)

I2_FH High Female 1720 9 Students (gymnasium,various faculties)

I3_ML Low Male 1720 7 Students (vocationalschool), warehouseman

I4_FL Low Female 1720 4 Students (gymnasium,vocational, faculty offoreign languages)

Finland

F1_MH High Male 1724 5 Students (pedagogy)

F2_FH High Female 1724 5 Students (pedagogy)

F3_ML Low Male 1724 5 Students, constructionworkers

F4_FL Low Female 1724 8 Students, practicalnurses

Total

Tot. N of FGs = 8 Age: 1724 Total No of participants: 51 (25 M, 26 F)



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picture about and (b) If the scene was familiar to them or not. The stimulus images

were selected with an understanding that they may function in the interview situ-

ation as clues, microcosms or provokers (Trrnen, 2002). In other words, we

assumed that our interviewees can interpret the stimulus images as indexes that

stand for a whole by referring to larger chains of events (Trrnen, 2002: 3503),or as microcosms that represent the reality in a truthful or unreal way (Trrnen,

2002: 3546), or as provokers that challenge their conventional understanding and

norms about the situation (Trrnen, 2002: 3569).

Interviews were literally transcribed in each country and read in their entirety.

Then thematic summaries were written and discussions about four pictures were

selected for in-depth content and narrative analysis. These discussions captured best

the boundary work done by young people towards adults drinking.

The data were coded using a common scheme and analyzed by applying the

concept of boundary work (Lamont and Molnr, 2002). We looked at what kinds

of categories and classification young people use while speaking about drinking. Inparticular we were interested in outlining how young people do symbolic bound-

ary work that is related to age boundaries, distinguishing youth drinking from adult

drinking and what kind of drinking was viewed as proper/common or deviant/not

common during adulthood.

Results

A Couple Hanging Out

In Italy the interviewees seem to interpret Picture 1 as a microcosm (Trrnen,

2002), comparing it to their own experiences and habits and reasoning whether the

stimulus text represents the reality truthfully or not. Many Italian respondents can

recognize themselves in the illustrated situation, mostly young girls who generally

report drinking experiences very similar to those of adults. Discussing the picture

they refer mostly to the habit of doing an aperitif. This is quite a recent drinking

practice, often mentioned by interviewees, meaning drinking a glass of wine or other

alcoholic beverages while eating something, snacks or cooked food, before or instead

of dinner (I1_MH, I2_FH, I4_FL). While upper class young girls speak about their

own habit of combining wine with food in a way that boasts their competence andrefinement, within the accounts of girls of lower socio-economic status, other cate-

gorizations are also depicted that do not include food. Furthermore, they do not refer

to wine necessarily but to other kind of beverages (e.g., beer, aperitifs, spirits).

Consistently wine is seen by most respondents as a beverage for consumption at

home or at restaurants, but not privileged for other kinds of drinking where food is

not consumed (I2_FH, I4_FL).

Francesca: I would see it [the scene] exactly with my boyfriend, I mean, going out and

having dinner with your boyfriend, or as an aperitif. When I go out for dinner with my

boyfriend I always drink wine (I2_FH).



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Picture 1

Table 2.Boundaries Drawn While Talking About Picture 1

Italy Finland

In sum: normal and quite ordinarysetting for both adults and young femalepeople

In sum: proper drinking setting for couples;related to special occasions; not part ofyoung peoples drinking repertoire

Boundaries of Us (normal) vs. Them (deviant)(A = adults, Y = young people, NS = not specified)

Boundaries of Us (Normal) vs. Them (Deviant)(A = adults, Y = young people, NS = not specified)

Normal Normal

Taking aperitifs and drinking (Y & A)

Travelling and wine tasting (A)

Drinking on dating (Y & A)

Drinking wine at dinner (Y & A)

Drinking moderately wine in festivesituations (A)

Drinking moderately wine while shopping(A)

Drinking moderately wine while dating(A)

Drinking moderately wine while eating(A)

Deviant Deviant

Drinking on dating (Y)

Drinking alcohol during the day (Y & A)

Drinking one bottle in two persons (Y) Drinking wine when going out (Y)

Drinking moderately wine (in ordinarysituations) (A)

Heavy drinking while celebrating,shopping, dating or eating as a couple (A)



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Lara: Its not so familiar to me. Because if they were my parents, only the two of them, I

would have seen them. If I go out I barely take wine, unless youre going to dinner at

somebodys house, then you bring a bottle. If I go out I dont [drink alcohol], but either

beer or various aperitifs. The venue too, I wouldnt go in such a place, its not familiar to

me. My dad also, who is the one [of the family] who drinks more, if he drinks outside ofmeal, he drinks beer (I2_FH).

Male respondents also perceive this picture as a quite normal way of drinking

(ordinary things that you can see in the streets Riccardo, MH) but they mostly

attribute it to other adults, because of the presence of alcohol, which is not yet

considered as appropriate consumption for young couples who are going out (I1_

MH, I3_ML, I4_FL). Besides, one bottle is considered too much for two persons

(I1_MH).

Rocco: Anyway wine is an alcoholic beverage, when we go out the two of us we dontdrink alcoholic beverages, we take water or share a Coca-Cola. At least this is what has

happened until now, we dont drink wine, then [in the future] I dont know (I1_MH).

Andrea: But one bottle for two persons is too much! (I1_MH)

Loredana: No, I cant see myself in this picture, because when I go out with a friend, a boy

like this, usually I dont drink alcohol such as wine and beer (I4_FL).

Also another classification emerges from the two upper-class groups (I1_MH, I2_

FH), which is that of tasting wine, typical of travelling and seen as an ordinary andappropriate adult consumption pattern.

Manuela: It seems to be a wine tasting. Its familiar to me because I see more my par-

ents [in this context]. Anyway, when you go on holiday you take the typical wine. Its quite

familiar, maybe not when there are two people. I wouldnt see [myself] tasting typical

wines with my boyfriend (I2_FH).

In the Finnish data, this picture is categorized as an adult drinking situation. When

the Finnish focus groups of young people discussed Picture 1, they indicated a

clear and consistent boundary line between themselves and adults. None of theinterviewees identifies with the characters or speaks about his or her drinking

experiences in relation to the situation shown in the picture. In contrast to Italians,

the young Finnish interviewees seem to interpret this picture as a clue (Trrnen,

2002), referring outside itself to a larger chain of events. One common interpreta-

tion of Picture 1 among young Finnish male and female groups is that it describes

a moderate and cultivated drinking scene of adults in the contexts of an anniver-

sary, shopping or dating:

Maarika: This is probably an anniversary

Johanna: You drink only one drink



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Noora: A couple takes one glass of wine after shopping, for example, and then leaves for

home

Ruth: Or they have just met and are dating

Johanna: Date. That also was my association

Ellu: And since they drink wine, they are cultivated (F4_FL)

On the basis of their experiences and cultural tools, the young interviewees from

Finland characterize this kind of drinking situation either as festive or as chill-out

time for adults during a holiday in Europe, for example:

Mari: [The couple] drinks somewhere in Europe on the pavement of a boulevard just to

celebrate the holiday in the middle of the day [-]

Pauliina: They taste the wine culture of another country

Titti: A nice intimate mutual moment. You go somewhere to have a drink to chill out.

Ulla: Yes, chilling out (F2_FH)

In this context drinking is not the main thing and it does not lead to intoxication.

Rather, this kind of situation for young Finns brings up associations of tasting fine

wines while eating:

Mika: In terms of drinking it is a light event, actually alcohol does not have a bigger mean-

ing here, it only functions as a festive sign

Olli: And probably is associated with having a meal, too [-]

Teemu: And the wine is fine for sure. It is not El Tiempo wine - 5 euros in Alko [alcohol

monopoly outlet] - but really a festive wine (F1_MH).

To sum up: when we compare how young people from Italy and Finland negotiate the

meanings of Picture 1, we notice that while Finnish respondents exclude themselves

from the dinking situation, many Italians and especially girls, recognize drinking wine

with the partner as their own and quite ordinary experience. Here boundaries between

adults and young peoples drinking are not so clear cut and are drawn only by some

interviewees; furthermore the scene is perceived as more ordinary than in Finland,

where it is categorized as cultivated and as a light drinking occasion of adults,

limited to specific festive situations in contrast to more ordinary drinking occasions.

Moreover, in discussing Picture 1, Italian interviewees outline well-articulated and

shared norms for when this kind of drinking is appropriate behaviour, in what kind of

company and by drinking what kind of beverages. In Finland, young people do not

explicitly relate their interpretation to these kinds of drinking norms.

People Having a Drink Together with Colleagues/Friends:

The situation shown in Picture 2 is not fully recognized by Italian interviewees,

since drinking alcohol is not considered appropriate during the afternoon (I2_FH,03). Rather, people would usually take coffee during the day (I2_FH, 03, 04).



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Picture 2


Italy Finland

In sum: not recognized as normal neitherfor adults nor for young people, since thereis not food on the table

In sum: ordinary and proper drinkingoccasion for adults; not part of youngpeoples drinking repertoire



Normal Normal

Drinking and eating during aperitifs (A) Tasting alcoholic drinks when travelling

(A & Y)

Having lunch with colleagues without orwith little alcoholic beverages (A)

Drinking while eating (dinner) (A)

Drinking lightly or heavily amongcolleagues after work, in a work trip, in apre-Christmas party (A)

Drinking lightly or heavily among oldclassmates reunion (A)

Drinking among colleagues or oldclassmates until to drunkenness (A)

Deviant Deviant

Drinking alcohol during the day (NS)

Drinking alcoholic beverages in bars

(instead of coffee or cappuccino) (A & Y)

NOT DEFINED, UNCLEAR



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Vittoria: This scene says nothing, even to me, for both the place it seems to be the square

of a town [and] it seems to be afternoon. Rather you go to somebodys home, while going

out if you meet, maybe [take] a coffee. If its evening maybe we go to Paolas, we drink

Martini, so thats different. This, it says nothing to me (I4_FL).

Giorgio: It reminds me when we schoolmates go out of school and go to some place all

together, but we dont drink alcoholic beverages (I3_ML).

It seems that the stimulus is interpreted as a provoker, something that calls the cultural

norms into question. Drinking in the afternoon and without eating sounds like a taboo,

something out of the question, not even to be discussed. So, in order to make Picture

2 discussable, Italian respondents turn it into a microcosm that is comparable to ordi-

nary situations. They translate the scene into something familiar, either by adding food

to itby speaking about aperitif or dinner (all Italian groups)or by removing alco-hol from it (I2_FH, I3_ML, I4_FL). In the case of adults it would be an ordinary situ-

ation among colleagues, with no or little alcohol consumption if it is a lunch time

(I1_MH, I3_ML), while for young people it would be a normal activity of going out

with peers in the afternoon without consuming alcohol (I2_FH, I3_ML, I4_FL).

C: Lunch with colleagues!

E: No, theyre too close for it to be a lunch.

D: Its lunchtime when everybody eats quickly, you arrive, take a table for ten people and

eat close.

G: But the glasses seem to be for aperitif.

D: Often I meet these people when Im around the University at lunch time; I see similar

tables nearby.

Interv: and do they drink alcohol?

D: Yes, they dont exaggerate it, but they do.

(I1_MH)

G: In my opinion this is when youre in a bar with your colleagues or with your boss.I think so.

Interv.: drinking alcohol?

G: no, what do you mean? I mean, taking aperitif

Interv: can there be alcoholic beverages?

G: No, not in my opinion.

(I3_ML)

Since hanging out during the day and drinking alcohol is not seen as an ordinary situ-ation, Picture 2 also reminds them of uncommon occasions, such as holidays or



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travelling, when tasting alcohol is considered okay, especially with friends, as well

as drinking other non-alcoholic beverages, which is most associated with family

memories (I2_FH, 03, 04).

Clara: It says something to me, I mean, it reminds me so much of summer scenes in Sicily,with my parents and their friends, but actually what would be on the table would be ice

creams and pastries (I4_FL).

Selene: It particularly reminds me of the first day I arrived in Spain. With some of my

schoolmates we arrived in a little square and said: lets drink, lets try some Spanish

drinks just because we were so happy to have arrived and so we were in a good mood, in

a beautiful place, so (I4_FL).

In the Finnish data, young people typify the situation of Picture 2 by referring to a

work-related occasion or to a reunion of old classmates. Both situations may include

drinking. The scene represents for them quite an ordinary situation of adult drinking.

It does not prompt them to speak about their own drinking habits in relation to it,

which makes evident a boundary between adults and young peoples drinking.

Titti: Class reunion.

Pauliina: I would say work mates.

Ulla: after an official work meeting they go for a drink.

Mari: they perhaps have had a seminar.

Ulla: or corresponding event, they enjoy a drink or many drinks(FI_02).

The Finnish young interviewees categorize the situation of Picture 2 as a drinking

occasion where it is acceptable to drink lightly or heavily, even to the point that next

day you are so ashamed that you do not have the nerve to come to work. They thus

interpret the stimulus as a clue, something that is part of a bigger picture, which in

their view is about drinking more and drinking to get drunk:

Teemu: They do not seem to have fun and they are more or less involuntary there in the

pre-Christmas party of the firm, I suppose that everyone continues from here to their ownplaces or they may also have an even less exhilarating after-party in a bar.

Matti: I think the middle one has drunk more

Joakim: Yes, it is not going to end well for all [-] (FI_01)

Johanna: Drinking party, I would say. Next day no-one has the nerve to come to work

(FI_01).

To sum up: the Italian young interviewees interpret Picture 2 as a microcosm, trying to

change it to represent their reality and experiences in a truthful way and according to

the general traditional social norms (e.g., adding food, replacing alcoholic beverageswith soft drinks, ). In Finland, the interviewees approach the drinking in Picture 2 as



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a clue that may imply light or heavy drinking. They do not explicitly refer to collective

norms that would restrict heavy drinking in these kinds of situations. Rather, the young

Finns response to Picture 2 suggests that in Finland adults may also end up drinking

heavily in situations where they go out with their colleagues or old classmates. In con-

trast to Italians, they clearly put drunkenness within the repertoire of adult drinking.

A Man Drinking Alone

Picture 3 is immediately perceived as sad by all the Italian groups. The young

Italians repeatedly associate drinking alone with sadness, and relate it to alcoholism.

Indeed alcohol is more commonly consumed with friends to have a good time, while

it is inappropriate in sad moments. In other words, the strangeness of the scene

pushes them to interpret it as a clue: drinking alone is an indicator of problematic

drinking for many respondents.

Andrea: I see a man with the vice of drinking [alcoholic] who is looking at the bottle

which is empty, actually, it seems to be empty to me. I dont know if he wants to start

drinking another one or if he is thinking about how awful his life is. Also the environment,

its dark ( I1_MH)

Gianni: In my opinion sadness doesnt relate to alcohol, alcohol to me is [related to] pleas-

ant and happy moments with friends, or one glass of wine while eating, but surely its not

that when a person is sad that he drinks (I3_ML).

Picture 3



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All Italian groups speak about drinking for sadness as something wrong, barely

comprehensible and as inappropriate behaviour. Nevertheless, someone consid-

ered that some details did not match with this classification, such as the good look-

ing clothes, the dish on the table and the books (I1_MH, I2_FH, I4_FL). Maybe due

to this peculiaritythe man is drinking alone but seems not to be an alcoholic

someone would perceive the situation as even fictional. Indeed, working-class

girls compare the picture to an image of theatre, while boys talk about a movie

scene (I2_FH, I4_FL).

Gisella: No, it doesnt seem to me [he is an alcoholic]. Also because he is clean, there is a

plate, a glass, two half-full bottles (I4_FL).

Rocco: It reminds me a scene from a movie, its not my experience (I1_MH)

Only among upper class groups (I1_MH, I2_FH) did more positive perceptions

about the picture emerge, with references to a microcosm and perceiving the situation

to as possible, as the adult behaviour of drinking some wine or ale after dinner.

Drinking while smoking a cigar or drinking while reading is seen as something thatcan happen to adults. Instead, drinking alone is not at all attributable to young people,


Italy Finland

In sum: Not attribute to young people

neither to normal adults because he isdrinking alone, except in a few cases(upper classes)

In sum: not normal drinking except for

East or South Europeans and for artist,professors, teachers and thinkers. Forother people it is categorized aspathological. Young people exclude it fromtheir drinking repertoire



Normal Normal

Drinking and reading (A) Drinking (a little) after dinner (A) Drinking and smoking (A) Drinking and happy times with friends (Y) Drinking wine and eating (Y & A)

Alone light drinking in East and SouthEurope

Alone light drinking among artist,professors, teachers and thinkers inFinland

Alone drinking for men who have bigpersonal problems

Deviant Deviant

Alone Drinking (A) Drinking without eating (NS) (Alone) Drinking and being sad/worried

(Y & A) Drinking spirits (NS)

Alone drinking (Y & A)



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although someone manages to speak about his/her own experience by first changing

the scene.

Vittoria: It reminds me a bit of my father, who might drink a little brandy after dinner while

reading. Its not so familiar, but it reminds me of something Ive seen ( I2_FH).

Rino: If I drink because my girlfriend has left me, the friends are there, you drink with

friends, not alone for sure! [...] Most of all it has to be a coincidence, I mean, you go to the

pub with friends and drink, then, if it happens that the girlfriend has left you, so you drink

more, because of this but drinking alone because Im sad is something that never hap-

pened to me personally and Ive never heard it from the people I know. Also to me, it

seems to be like a movie (I3_ML).

The young Finnish interviewees did not identify with Picture 3 and excluded drink-

ing alone from their drinking practices. One of the groups that interpret Picture 3 asa microcosm (F3_ML) gives the following explanation for that why drinking alone

is a bad idea:

Niko: I myself do not drink alone.

Teemu: Perhaps you have a more secure feeling when there are other people around, if by

accident or on purpose you drink too much then other people might help you.

Niko: Hopefully. At least in our company you get transported back home (F3_ML).

Since drinking means for young Finns a possibility to get intoxicated, you do not dothat alone since you might need someone to carry you back home. However, when

they speak about adults drinking they orientate to Picture 3 as being a clue and cre-

ate boundaries between Eastern or South European and Finnish drinking cultures, as

well as between ordinary adults and artists or intellectually oriented adults drink-

ing, and recognize that in other cultures and among specific groups, drinking alone

belongs to a normal and not an intoxication-oriented activity:

Titti: This is a rather common picture, I think.

Mari: Reminds me of Eastern Europe.

Titti: I think that if the man would not have Eastern or Southern European features, he also

could be drinking alone man here in some pub, having a beer or two while thinking [-].

Pauliina: [-] If he is an author he is supposed to drink a little bit.

Ulla: Or professor or comparable (F2_ FH).

However, if the man in Picture 3 would be an ordinary Finn, drinking on his own

would be a sign of problem drinking:

Noora: [-] Something has happened to him.

Nadja: He has stress



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Ruth: He looks like his wife has just died.

Nadja: He reflects whether to start to booze and fall into drinking or not (F4_ FL).

Ulla: [-] Something has happened to him, some kind of crisis and he has to think and drink[for sadness] (F2_FH).

Summarizing, both Italian and Finnish interviewees do not recognize Picture 3 as an

ordinary habit, neither for young people nor for adults. However, they give different

reasons for this. Since in Italy appropriate drinking aims at better enjoyment the together-

ness (without intoxication), drinking alone is supposed to be deviant and an expression

of a problem. In Finland, in turn, drinking is likely to be intoxication-oriented, in which

case drinking alone is considered dangerous, since you could need someones help.

Nevertheless, in both cases some exceptions to the pathological interpretation are hypoth-

esized, which refer to a sort of cultivated and intellectual drinking, which may be alone,but still not excessive. This kind of drinking is recognized by the upper classes in Italy,

while in Finland it is in reference to other parts of Europe and to intellectuals.

A Man Passed Out

Seeing a drunk adult is something abnormal for Italian interviewees, so that most of

them want to highlight that they have never seen their parents or other adults in what

they consider a pathological situation. Boundaries between adulthood and drunk-

enness are clearly drawn. On the other hand, something about the scene, like the

table, is familiar to many respondents, because of the presence of both a bottle and a

cigarette pack. This association seems to be common and it may refer both to adults

and young people. By approaching Picture 4 as a microcosm, respondents discuss

what should be changed in order to represent it as a more real and familiar situation.

In this case there should be wine instead of spirits. Girls make a clear distinction

between the two kinds of beverages, of which wine is considered to be an appropri-

ate alcoholic beverage even for adults. Spirits are still considered something unusual,

good to offer to guests but not so much appreciated.

Lara: Not adults, my dad Ive never seen him in this way. But this set made of a bottle,

cigarettes and a table at home reminds me of a lot of evenings (I2_FH).

Manuela: The table is familiar to me. My father has always thousands of cigarette packs sca

tered on the table. He doesnt drink much spirits, my father drinks wine, so maybe [I can recog-

nize] the wine, the ashtray, the unlit cigarettes because hes a heavy smoker but not the head

in that way, rather on the sofa smoking a cigarette. But those things on the table yes (I2_FH).

Gianluca: I have never seen a relative or a family friend get into such a state but a table

with the ashtray is always present, cigarette butts off, a bottle of alcoholic beverage

spirit in this case, which I dont think, but wine If it were not for the bottle, it could be

an embarrassing table. Already seen, absolutely (I1_MH).



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Picture 4


Italy Finland

In sum: categorized as pathological foradults. Considered normal situation onlyfor young people in certain contexts

(party-home, disco, holidays).

In sum: categorized both as a normaldrinking situation or pathological drinkingsituation for adult men. Young people do

not identify with it.Boundaries of Us (normal) vs. Them (deviant)(A = adults, Y = young people, NS = not specified)


Normal Normal or common

Drunkenness at the disco (Y)

Drunkenness on holidays (Y)

Drunkenness at home-parties (Y)

Drinking and smoking (Y & A)

Drunkenness for marginalized men (A)

Drunkenness for divorced men (A)

Deviant Deviant

Drinking alone (Y & A) Being drunk (A)

NOT DEFINED, UNCLEAR(Y & A)

Claudio: He seems to have some problems with alcohol, to be an alcoholic. Ive never had

this sort of experience (I3_ML).

Since drunkenness is not commonly associated with adulthood, Picture 4 mainly arouses

talk about young peoples drunkenness, which receives justification and is considered



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very different from that of adults. Actually, an adult who gets drunk is considered a

failed person, someone not meeting social expectations, while young people who do it

are not blamed, especially among higher socio-economic status interviewees. However,

intoxication is not personally appreciated: many accounts refer to others drunkenness.

Arturo: anyway, it happened to me last Halloween feast, with a friend of mine. We went

into a pub and we destroyed ourselves. Our girlfriends had left us, we were bad at school,

a shit period! So it happened that we collapsed with chupitos [shot drinks] and we were

more or less like this.

Riccardo: yes, but you werent so old!

Gianluca: the problem is not the state in which the man is, but hes alone, old, in an ugly

house, thus this is failure. Whereas if a young person does it [is different](Italy, MA).

Many features about young drunkenness are recurrent, showing that some contextsand situations are more likely to be related to excessive drinking, such as home par-

ties or being in the countryside or on holidays, away from parental control.

Lara: What Im saying is a bit bad []. Unfortunately it happened to me several times in a

certain context. A house on the mountains and a very good group of friends with whom we

often exaggerate too much. []. In Torino it is more difficult since I live with my parents, so

that going out is more usual. Otherwise on the mountains there are not many people beyond

the door, so many times you stay at home and this kind of scene is typical (I2_FH).

Rocco: This scene happens when maybe you are at a friends home which is free [from

adults] and so everyone is drunk on the floor, this is what it reminds me of, but it never

happened to me. Maybe Ive seen friends or acquaintances in such a state, maybe sit at the

table, not me personally, but [Ive] seen [it] for sure (I3_ML).

Another common situation which makes young people drink too much is going to a

disco, as alcohol is considered to help in staying up and dancing all night. Drinking

before going to a disco, or preloading, is considered quite normal, especially among

upper class boys, even if they are aware about the risk of drinking and driving.

Riccardo: There are friends of mine that every time there is a university feast, they always

participate, before they all meet at the home of a boy who lives alone and every time they

have to arrive at the disco, I mean, just at that point that they can hardly come to the place

without having an accident. When they come they are already half-pissed. Then after a

quarter or so and they are already pissed. Every time. They have related this kind of feast

to this kind of evening, as it was a ritual (I1_MH).

Giovanni: yes, you meet before, drink something and then go to dance, most of all because

maybe you dance until five or six in the morning and youre tired, alcohol may help you

[]stay awake and be happier.

[]



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Gianluca: I say no, alcohol makes you sleep. It works for one hour, its an opioid, it makes

you sleepy, this is why driving is dangerous, because you fall asleep. This is why I dont

drink before going dancing, because you need to drive to get to some place. (I1_MH).

In the Finnish data, Picture 4 is solely related to adults drinking. Commenting on thepicture, young Finns do not speak about their own experiences. While they negotiate

over the meanings of Picture 4, they orientate to it as a clue and construct a boundary

line between normal and pathological adult drinking. They are almost unanimous in

thinking that Picture 4 describes a destructive (though quite ordinary) masculine

adult drinking, especially in cases where a man is experiencing a divorce:

Tuomas: The wife left, he was driven to drink (F3_ ML).

Ulla: Poor grandpa.Emmi: A divorce.

Mari: drinking alone, marginalized alcoholic (F2_FH).

Mika: Something heavy has happened since the bottle is empty and there is nothing left in

the glass either (F1_ MH).

Noora: He has just had a fight with his wife who has left him and taken the kids with her

and dad has started to look for relief in the situation and has cried himself to sleep

Others: He has passed out.

Johanna: Wife has gone to a bar to pick another man up (F4_ FL).

Some of the groups (F3_ML, F4_FL), however, also negotiated an alternative inter-

pretation of the situation, where the moment in Picture 4 can represent a normal

phase of the typical evening out of a man or ones own father:

Petri: You can also think that he has had a [normal] evening out in a bar and has come

back home.

Tuomas: And has taken one drink.Petri: he has thought of taking one more before sleeping but fallen asleep at the table

(F3_ ML).

Johanna: This is my father.

Ruth: He has been drinking at home [-]. Home party.

Ella: This is a typical Saturday (Finland: F4_FL).

While the more educated young interviewees from Finland negotiated analogicalboundary lines by taking distance from the pathological masculine drinking, the less



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educated interviewees expressed greater proximity to destructive drinking, as we can

interpret from the above quotations. The less educated young people have experienced

heavy masculine drinking close up, by their fathers and acquaintances, in which drink-

ing develops as a transgression from an ordinary to a mutual carnival-like or excessive

behaviour that may lead to passing out (Trrnen and Maunu, 2007).To sum up: by comparing the interpretations of young Italians and young Finns

for Picture 4, we see that adult intoxication-oriented drinking is not at all ordinary

in the Italian environment, where it is interpreted as an indication of pathology.

Therefore in order to make sense of Picture 4, many young Italians interpret it as

a microcosm and translate it into the contexts of their own experimentation with

intoxication and party culture. In Finland, young people seem to have a lot of expe-

riences of heavy drinking by adult males which results in the man passing out. For

that reason they discuss this heavy drinking almost as normal behaviour when your

wife has left you.

Discussion

Analysing Italian group discussions, several boundaries are expressed about what are

perceived as normal or deviant drinking habits. Indeed in their talk, young intervie-

wees depict clear drinking norms that signal the limits of appropriate drinking, that

parallel the traditional drinking culture and adult drinking (Beccaria et al., 2010). The

most often and common quoted norm is not drinking alcoholic beverages during the

day outside of meal times, which came out in each of group discussions repeatedly, in

the recalling of old and popular proverbs (Buseghin, 1992). The recent trendy habit of

taking an aperitif, which about half of the young Italian interviewees have in com-

mon with adults, represents well the fact that one of the most important traditional

norms is still part of contemporary drinking culture. Similar to drinking away from

meals, drinking alone is indicated as inappropriate behaviour and interpreted as evi-

dence of probable alcoholism. Moreover, boundaries between normal and deviant

drinking emerged when the Italian interviewees spoke about quantities (e.g., one bottle

for two persons is too much), places (e.g., wine is fine at home and at restaurants but

not when going out), time (e.g., its not fine to drink during the day), company (e.g.,

drinking as a couple), age (e.g., drinking as a couple is not yet fine at his age) andbeverages (e.g., drinking spirits is a sign of problematic drinking in itself). As noticed

previously (Hellman and Rolando, 2013), young Italian people seem to practice a

broad repertoire of drinking patterns that involve clear boundaries between appropri-

ate and inappropriate drinking that resembles the informal drinking norms of adults.

With a view to Bowker and Star (1999), we could argue that most of the common

boundaries between appropriate vs. inappropriate drinking developed in Italy as part

of a common language. Therefore, in Italy drinking symbolizes the us shared by

different ages and generations.

This close proximity between adults and youth drinking is also coherent with

the long permissive-protective socialization process, where children and adoles-cents are allowed or even encouraged to taste alcoholic beverages together with



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adults, thereby learning informal norms (Beccaria et al., 2010; Rolando et al.,

2012). As the analysis of boundary work has clearly shown, young Italians in their

20s still know very well what is appropriate drinking and what is not. This does

not mean that they would necessarily always follow the norms, but it indicates at

least that the social transmission of shared informal norms persists in Italy, despiteongoing changes in lifestyles.

The unique and important boundary between youth and adult drinking is related

to drunkenness. Drinking until intoxication is clearly part of young peoples drink-

ing repertories, but not those of adults. This result is in line with a previous Italian

study that compared the drinking careers of two different cohorts (4045 vs. 6570-

year-olds) and argued that, in contrast to a past where people had a very linear and

constant intake of wine for most of the lifespan, younger generations experience

more consumption peaks in their youth (Beccaria and Scarscelli, 2007). However,

later in adulthood they take on a quite moderate drinking stylewhere intoxica-

tion takes place very seldomand return to the norms they have learned in child-

hood (ivi). The present study seems to confirm that the young generation of this

study, at least at the level of representations, considers intoxication as a normal

habit in the youth period but not in adulthood, which is consistent with more recent

studies (Beccaria et al., 2010; Rolando and Katainen, 2014). Drunkenness is thus

not blameworthy if it occurs for young people, whereas an adult who gets drunk

represents a deviant, an alcoholic. Still, if drunkenness seems to be quite an ordi-

nary situation for many Italian young intervieweesespecially in certain contexts

such as clubs, home-parties and holidaysit is worth noticing that several drinking

repertoires that are part of younger peoples lifestyles do not implicate it and may

relate to their experiences as well as to those of adults, such as having aperitifs,

drinking on a date and drinking wine at dinner. So, with the exception of drunken-

ness, boundaries between the drinking of young people and adults do not emerge,

which indicates a certain closeness between the drinking habits of 20-year-olds and

those of adults.

In contrast to Italy, the young Finnish interviewees do not associate the pic-

tures showing adult drinking with their own drinking habits and norms. The young

Finns perceive adult drinking situations and habits as separate from their own and

in this way show distance to them. As they speak about adult drinking situations

they do not express explicit shared norms about what kind of drinking is appropri-ate or not in each situation. Rather, they categorize the situations by characteris-

ing whether the drinking is more likely to lead to light or heavy drinking or both.

Indeed, intoxication seems to be a constant topic and reference frame in the young

Finns interpretation of pictures, as most of their discussions revolve around the

dichotomy between light and heavy drinking, where the former one may easily

lead to the latter. This division between light and heavy drinking seems to be the

dominating and only criterion for describing adult drinking. And it appears not

to be morally loaded or seen from a control perspective by the interviewees from

Finland, neither is it related to age. Indeed, in contrast to Italy, the intoxication-

orientation in Finland seems to be a typical drinking habit both for young peopleand adults. However, this habit does not provide a common language between



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young people and adults or represent a bridge that would connect them. The dis-

tance between the drinking of adults and young people takes shape early, when

children are not allowed to drink with their parents, and the distance expands when

adolescents are not comfortable even to speak about alcohol with their parents

(Jaatinen, 2000). This could also be a reason why young Finnish interviewees donot draw boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate drinking when talking

about adult drinking. The lack of mutual understanding of drinking between young

people and adults is not simply due to the fact that young people are not willing

to follow the expectations of adults, as has previously been argued (Hellman

and Rolando, 2013). It appears also to depend on the fact that strong normative

ambivalences exist around drinking. Young people know that, on the one hand,

their drinking heavily transgresses adult expectations of appropriate behaviour.

Therefore, when they choose to drink heavily, their drinking often becomes con-

frontational with adult norms (including parents, public health authorities and the

media). On the other hand, they also know that the drinking culture around them is

intoxication-oriented, as their interpretations of the above pictures testify to. Seen

from this perspective, as located in the surrounding drinking culture, heavy drink-

ing by young people appears as normal (see Simonen et al., 2013; Trrnen and

Roumeliotis, 2013). The ambiguous double message between the official commu-

nication and the informal culture may explain why well-formulated, explicit and

shared norms do not exist for appropriate and inappropriate drinking among adults

and young people in Finland. As the parents, the public health authorities and

the media emphasize moderate drinking or abstinence from drinking, while the

informal norms of the surrounding drinking culture rather promote heavy drink-

ing, in this situation, explicit shared norms have little space in which to develop.

Our results also seem to indicate that the drinking repertoire of young Finns is

narrower than that of young people in Italy. Light drinking situations are not a

common part of their drinking habits. Other studies show that drinking cultures

among young people in the Helsinki area are strongly oriented to having fun

through heavy drinking and intoxication-oriented partying (see Simonen et al.,

2013; Trrnen and Roumeliotis, 2013). This also explains why the picture stimuli

remained remote for young Finns and did not prompt storytelling about their own

drinking experiences.

Conclusions

Even if the data are based on a small number of group interviews, results are con-

sistent with previous studies and contribute to developing and clarifying our

understanding of youth drinking cultures from the specific perspective of bound-

ary work (Lamont and Molnr, 2002). In Italy, what certainly distinguishes adult

drinking from that of young peoples is intoxication, which is tolerated during

youth but interpreted as a sign of problematic drinking when occurring in adult-

hood. Beyond and despite this clear boundary, youth and adult drinking end upbeing close, since young people have the same concepts about what is appropriate



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drinking and what is not, having internalized the social norms about drinking and

having shared with adults the drinking repertoire that do not involve intoxication.

On the threshold of adulthood, they still sometimes indulge in heavy drinking but

at the same time they have already acquired more mature drinking styles.

In Finland, the boundaries between the drinking habits of young peoples andadults are clearly apparent. The young people in the groups did not identify with

any of the pictures above that represent adult drinking. By taking distance from

adult drinking situations that may be light or heavy, young people express the view

that their drinking worlds and identities develop outside of adult regulation. While

drinking in Italy connects young people and adults around the same kind of socia-

bility, drinking in Finland serves as a means for young people to oppose the formal

drinking norms and to develop their own age-specific peer and youth drinking cul-

tures. On the other hand, by identifying with the informal norms of heavy drinking

(Trrnen and Roumeliotis, 2013), they become part of the never-ending tradition

of intoxication-oriented drinking habits in Finland, which have dominated the drink-

ing cultures of their parents, grandparents, great-grand-parents and so on.

This difference in the socialization into drinking cultures found in Italy and

Finland offers important topics for further research. It would be important to study

whether the results presented here are only valid in relation to alcohol or whether they

express a more general and wider dynamic of boundary work between young people

and adults in Finland and Italy. In the context of this study we can state, at the least,

that all the above-mentioned aspects go some way to explain why young Italians

and Finns continue to show a different orientation towards intoxication (Jrvinen

and Room, 2007). Another important topic for further research would be to use

longitudinal data to study how alcohol socialization in Italy manages to reproduce

norms that promote moderate drinking habits and how in Finland the ambivalences

between formal and informal norms in alcohol socialization contribute to reproduc-

ing undesirable drinking habits. In this regard, studies that would yield knowledge

on the role of parenting styles in the socialization into cultural forms of drinking in

northern and southern geographies would be of great relevance.

Acknowledgement

This project has been partly nanced by the Academy of Finland (137685) and Swedish

Council for Working Life and Social Research (20080658). The Italian data collection hasbeen granted by Osservatorio Permanente sui Giovani e lAlcool (Rome, Italy).

Conflict of Interests

The Italian data collection has been granted by Osservatorio Permanente sui Giovani e lAlcool

(Rome), an institute supported by ASSOBIRRA (Italian Breweries Association) and University

of Perugia. The study was conducted independently of funding agencies. None of the funding

agencies played an active role in the preparation, review or editing of this manuscript.

Note

1. http://data.euro.who.int/hfadb/



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Trrnen, Jukka and Roumeliotis, Filip (2013) Masculinities of Drinking as Described by

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Sara Rolando is a sociologist. She has been working as researcher in Eclectica(Torino) since 2007. She is involved in various national and international researcheson alcohol, particularly on the topics of drinking culture and young people. She is aPhD student at the University of Helsinki. [email: [email protected]]

Jukka Trrnenwith a PhD in sociology, has a chair as professor at SoRAD onsocial alcohol and drug research. He has had a long-term interest in alcohol anddrug research, in theoretical sociology and in qualitative methods. [email: [email protected]]

Franca Beccaria, PhD, is a sociologist, partner in Eclectica, a research institutein Torino (Italy), contract professor at the EMDAS, European Master on Drugand Alcohol Studies, the Avogadro University (Novara) and at University ofTorino (Italy). Her main research interests are alcohol and culture, drinking styles,prevention and sociology of health. [email: [email protected]]

Documents

Boundaries between adult and youth drinking