Cultural variations in conceptualization of excessive drinking among young adults in Denmark, Estonia and Italy
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the cultural meanings of excessive drinking in three different countries with different levels of alcohol use chosen as case studies of wider geographies representing Northern (Denmark), Southern (Italy) and Eastern (Estonia) Europe.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected according to the Reception Analytical Group Interview method, using video clips as stimuli to enhance comparability. Eight online focus groups were organized in each country for a total number of 128 participants. Symbolic boundaries defining what drinking patterns are socially acceptable were then analysed to look at cross-national variations.
Findings
Results show how different conceptualizations of excessive drinking persist, although a convergence process among drinking patterns is also observed, which suggests that differences mainly depend on meanings and values attributed to intoxication. These are both rooted in the traditional drinking cultures and affected by ongoing social and economic change processes.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability, even at country level, as there are differences also within the same drinking culture; however, addressing these differences was beyond the scope of the present study, which aimed to contribute to understanding persisting differences in European drinking culture despite different drivers seem to act for globalization of drinking habits.
Practical implications
The paper includes implications for the development of tailored and effective prevention messages, considering rooted attitudes and cultural values attached to drinking and drunkenness in different European geographies, which are also related to conceptualizations of risks and pleasure.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils an identified need to understand persisting differences in alcohol-related behaviours and outcome in different European countries emerging from quantitative data.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This study was funded by the Lifestyle Research Network, which receives funding in the form of an educational grant from Diageo, PLC.
Conflict of interest: The funder did not play any role in setting the aims of the study, the research design or in its development. The present paper was written by the authors and submitted to this journal without any acknowledgement nor approval by the funder.
Citation
Rolando, S., Cuomo, G., Allaste, A.-A., Fabricius, V.A.V., Kolind, T. and Läänemets, M. (2024), "Cultural variations in conceptualization of excessive drinking among young adults in Denmark, Estonia and Italy", Drugs, Habits and Social Policy, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/DHS-05-2023-0018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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